Locked Doors
by Raylie Knight
Summary: Heero is trying to track down at serial killer, but what does that have to do with Duo?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, this is a Fan Fic!

Hey, my apologies for starting this right when I'm in the middle of Scars, but the idea came to me driving home form work one day and I had to type it up before I forgot it! I just can't help it! Maybe it'll help me work on Scars, ya know, get those creative juices flowing…

Locked Doors

Part one: Suspicion

They were calling him the Bible Beater, though it was a very mundane title thought up by the press and did not ring true for the actual crimes. If it were merely a beating that the victims were going though, the authorities would have been a lot less stress and a lot less people would be dead. It was happening on earth, though people living out on the colonies were just as weary of answering the door now.

Heero was looking over a pile of photos and manila folders, it took up all of his large oak desk. His office was a mess, he hated it, but these days there was not time to worry about the details. All that mattered was stopping the killer. He'd been called in on this one, he was used to terrorists, not serial killers. However, they'd pulled in everyone on this case, there were too many dead now to waste any more time on pride. 'They' being a council consisting of mystery men who had "Only the safety of the public" in mind.

The press couldn't get enough of the Bible Beater, and Heero's office had several rolling bulletin boards set up around the walls with just newspaper clippings tacked to them. There was also a white boards a wash in marker lines that inevitable led to nowhere. Heero ran his hand though his hair again adding to the normally messy tangles. He stared down at the paper in front of him. It lay gently over photos, photos that Heero never wished to see again after this was all over, images he logged with horrors he had seen during to war and tried to forget.

Heero really didn't want to go though with the plan he'd already fabricated in his mind. Didn't want to follow the strategic steps he'd laid out for himself that would lead to either devastation or relief and another dead end. Heero sat back in his chair and looked around. The cold cup of coffee on the desk still looked appetizing and Heero decided it was probably time for a lunch break.

Heero began to straighten out the photos on his desk and sorted some back into their files when his buzzer sounded. He reached past the cold coffee and hit the flashing button.

"Hn?" He grunted at the speaker.

"Captain Yuy? Mr. Winner is here to see you." The timid voice of Linton, his secretary replied quickly. She was still trying to adjust to his method of conduct since she had replaced Caser, his previous secretary. Though Heero thought he really didn't need one, he had finally admitted to himself that she did help the cause and saved him time when he was needed elsewhere and she could be there doing small tasks that would normally eat away his time.

"Come in." Heero said sharply, knowing that Quatre would hear him. The door opened shortly after and Quatre stepped in. He smiled easily at Heero and walked up to his desk where Heero finally finished sorting the photos. Heero felt some of his stress melt away with Quatre simply being there.

"I thought you might be ready for a break, are you free for lunch?" Quatre asked.

"Yes." Heero stood and took the piece of paper that was causing him so much trouble and tucked it in his suit pocket.

"Good, where would you like to go?" Quatre asked as he led the way out the door. Heero grunted. "I was thinking about this Italian restaurant just around the corner. One of my partners recommended it the other day."

Heero left a small pack of papers with Linton. "I'll be back in under two hours." Heero said, giving himself time to eat and clear his mind. He didn't like being away from work so long, but it was possible to miss things if he let himself get too wrapped up in the case. If he let his mind clear, he might see something when he returned that he missed before due to stress.

"Yes sir!" Linton took the papers and placed them right next to her current project that Heero was glad to see was nearly done. She was efficient and quick, he would give her that. But she was still so young. Heero felt the years on his belt as he walked away with Quatre. It wasn't that so much time had passed since the war, only seven years had gone by, it was the experience that had come with those years, the knowledge added to what he'd learned during the war.

"She's nice, and a hard worker." Quatre smiled at Heero again, as they waited for the elevator. "What's her name?"

"Linton." Heero ran his hand through his hair again, but trying to straighten it out this time. It was a lost cause.

"She replaced Caser?" Quatre had known him well.

"Yes." Heero stepped into the elevator when it arrived and leaned against the back wall. Quatre follow suite and pressed the button for the ground floor.

"Have you made any head way in the case?" Quatre's voice lost something when he asked, some easy swagger his voice usually held when he talked to Heero. He wasn't involved as Heero was, but he tried to help Heero wherever he could with contacts or funding. And so Heero shared what he could, when he could, hoping that maybe Quatre would see something he didn't.

"No, just dead ends." Heero fingered the paper in his pocket; he had been reluctant to share this information with Quatre. It had been carefully kept a secret, no one had been allowed to give this to the press or any contacts they had. This was a deciding factor, and Heero was still reluctant to share it with Quatre for what it would mean.

"I haven't heard anything, but I'm keeping all lines open." Quatre gave Heero a weak smile, he hated seeing his friend like this. Bags neath his eyes, pale skin, and he was sure Heero had been steadily losing weight. But more than anything was the hollow emptiness settling in behind Heero's cobalt eyes.

And so Quatre tried to meet Heero for lunch as much as he could during the week. He tried to keep his spirits up and strove to smile and reassure Heero that not all the world was as it read in the files that had piled up on Heero's desk. The body counts, the coroners report, the crime scene photos. All those people, dead. Quatre could see it physically wearing down on his friend, but he feared more for what he couldn't see.

They arrived on ground level and Quatre led the way out into the sun. Heero flinched slightly at the change in light, but followed steadily as Quatre started down the sidewalk. It was after lunch hour, when most people had drifted back to their offices and cubicles, so there were less people on the street. Quatre chose this time of day since large crowds seemed only to agitate Heero.

They arrived at the restaurant in less than five minutes and were seated immediately. The menus were handed to them and drinks were brought. Heero stared at the words in front of him, but his mind was elsewhere. Quatre ordered for them both and then turned to Heero when the waiter had left.

"Heero?" Quatre asked.

Heero seemed to look up as if he'd almost nodded off. A sort of jerk that made his eyes open wider. "Hn?"

"You seem more distracted than usual. Is something wrong? Did something happen?" Quatre asked, his eyes conveying only pure concern.

Heero was always surprised to see the pureness of Quatre's emotions in his eyes. He was so used to other people hiding things, or lieing with alternative purposes. He sighed heavily and told himself it was time to show Quatre.

"Nothings changed, but its' not all dead ends. There's always been one clue left alone." Heero admitted.

"But why haven't you followed it then?" Quatre asked earnestly as their food arrived.

"It's been left alone at my request." Heero confessed. He took a bite of the meat lasagna Quatre had ordered him. It was hearty and he felt the heat travel down his chest and into his stomach. It felt good; he hadn't realized how hungry he'd been.

"What's wrong Heero? What aren't you telling me?" Quatre picked a little at his own food, too nervous to eat.

Heero reached into his pocket and pulled out the piece of paper and handed it to Quatre. Quatre looked hard at Heero and then looked down at the paper. His eyes grew large instantly and his mouth hung open. He looked up at Heero again, shock and horror written across his face.

"But this is…"Quatre trailed off and his shoulders tightened. "How is this possible?"

Heero ate more food, as calmly as anything while Quatre suffered shock just across from him. "I've been wondering the same thing since I first saw it."

"They think he's doing it, don't they." Quatre said it more as a statement than a question.

"Yes." Heero was glad he'd decided to show this to Quatre.

"I bet they're mad you wont let them pursue this." Quatre gave a little smirk.

"They are merely leaving this alone upon my request, but I don't think I can keep it up much longer, too many are dead." Quatre nodded.

"What are you going to do?" Quatre asked looking Heero straight in the eyes. Heero could almost hear Quatre's voice through his eyes, telling him what exactly he should do.

"I'll go myself." Heero sighed and looked down at his half eaten lasagna.

"Good." Quatre smiled, not triumphant, but truly glad.

"He won't be happy to see me." Heero said, more to himself, but Quatre heard him anyway.

"I wouldn't be either, if I were him." Quatre scolded. "They way you left him, what you two said to each other. But it is a wonder that you've stayed away this long considering the truth of the situation."

"I'm not going souly to apologize or resolve the issue, only to-" Heero started, but Quatre interrupted him.

"I know exactly why you're going. I'm just hoping that you'll finally see for yourself the reality of all of this and see this as an opportunity to put this whole thing behind us." Quatre frowned at him. "You were both foolish and there is no way this should have come this far but it did. And this is a chance for you to make things right. It's not right to deny your feelings like this. You shouldn't have lied Heero."

Heero wouldn't look at Quatre, but the words struck true. Heero knew what he'd done was wrong. He had lied, in a big way. He'd not only hurt others, but himself as well. There wasn't a day that went by that he didn't regret it all and think about doing just what Quatre wanted him to. But in the end, his pride always won out. And he always let it go another day when he didn't make things right. Another day he wouldn't admit the truth or allow himself whatever might come next.

"I'm going. I'll go." Heero pocketed the paper again and then sat and waited while the waited brought them Styrofoam boxed to take their leftovers in. Quatre nodded to himself and packed up his meal when the boxes came. He paid for the meal, Heero paid last time, and they left.

Heero hesitated outside the door, as if unsure of what to do or where to go now. Now that he'd made up his mind to follow then plan he'd made since he'd first sent he paper, he was almost unsure of how to get started.

"Go Heero." Quatre said startling Heero into looking at him. "Go pay Duo a visit. It's long overdue."

Heero strode into the office and Linton jumped where she was sitting at her desk, just finishing the papers Heero had left her with.

"Did you have a good lunch sir?" Linton asked her voice betraying her startle condition. He always managed to sneak up on her. But she supposed he couldn't help it, being a war hero and all.

"Linton!" Heero barked at her, not really meaning to, but he was determined now. The girl jumped up and followed him into his office with a computer pad. She waited as he rounded his desk and pulled out a briefcase.

"I need shuttle tickets, I need hotel reservations, I need case files and I need a budget." Heero counted off. Linton's hand flew across the screen nestled in the crook of her arm as she pulled up various windows with the small screen pen.

"Destination sir?" Linton asked, forgetting to be shy as she found herself in her element.

"L3" Heero answered and he sorted folders into a basket for filing, and others into his briefcase.

"Time of departure?" Linton asked.

"This evening, is there a flight at seven?" Heero placed his laptop in the briefcase.

"There's one at seven forty sir."

"Book it."

"Return ticket?"

"I'll get it myself, I don't know how long I'll be gone."

"Reservation?"

"Start with two nights." Heero looked around the room for anything he might have missed.

Linton disappeared briefly and then reappeared with a sealed card. She ripped open the plastic seal and then swiped the card through a reader on her portable.

"Here's your budget sir." She turned the screen so he could see it. "And here is the code. If you need the perimeters changed just call me." Heero memorized it at a glance and then returned to his briefcase.

"I'm leaving to pack. Set up a secure line for me under this key." Heero reached over briefly to type it in on her portable and then led the way out of the office. "Get in touch with Bennett and tell him where I've gone. Give him the key but no one else."

Heero pressed the button for the elevator, only vaguely aware that Linton was still following him.

"And make sure all orders and cases are forwarded to me the second they go through." Heero paused as the elevator arrived.

"Don't worry sir, I've got it all, have a safe flight." And Linton smiled at him for the first time since she'd started working for him. And for the first time Heero noticed that she was five inches shorter than him, had bouncy brown curls that ended at her ear lobes and brown sugar eyes. She also had a mole at the corner of her right eye and always wore slacks instead of a skirt.

"Thank you Linton." Heero managed to get out as the doors were closing.

"No problem sir!" Linton chirped and then he was descending to the garage under the building.

Heero was at the shuttle bay at seven twenty with a small travel bag and his brief case. He had called Linton once to have her check that the line was secure and then went to the ticket counter and checked in for his seat.

Heero was unsure of what to do while he was waiting. He could feel tension and anxiety building up inside him as he began to have doubts about his trip. It always happened this way, only this time he'd actually gotten to the shuttle bay before the doubt started to rise in him. He'd planned this trip one thousand times, and it was only this time he'd gotten beyond just packing.

Now Heero tightening his grip on his bag and looked around. Should he really be doing this? Heero saw a small store full of magazines and gum, and small snacks for flyers. He stepped in, hoping to distract himself. He wound up buying a book and then went to his gate to wait.

He started reading right away. Didn't let his though go any further towards doubt. When his flight was called he let himself be herded with others onto the shuttle and took his seat in first class. Heero started reading again and paid no attention to what was going on around him. Heero didn't stop until they served food. Afterwards he slept a couple of hours and then read some more. He tried not to think about what was coming next.

Heero landed safely on L3 and took a cab to his hotel. Heero had arrived in the early afternoon. He checked in a dropped his bag on the bed. The room was spacious and designed in soft pinks and oranges. Heero opened the window and looked out at the city suspended in space. He paced the room once…twice…and then picked up his briefcase. Heero started for the door then turned back and put the briefcase back down. He considered flying straight back to Earth and then banished the thought. He took out a file from his briefcase and tucked it into his coat. It was late autumn here, where as summer was just beginning back home. Heero finally left the hotel and hailed a cab. He took the cab ten minutes to a small garage that Quatre had given him the address to three years ago. Duo was standing right out front waving goodbye to someone.

Heero paid the driver and stepped out of the cab and stood there for a moment. He stared at Duo. There was a slight breeze that lifted Duo's golden brown hair form his forehead and carried his braid round his waist. Heero's breath caught in his chest.

Duo looked not as Heero remembered him, but as he imagined him. His hair shown as if the chestnut brown had golden inlays in the sun. His eyes filled up his face and glowed brilliant violet under his long bangs. His lips were full of color with a white scar just above them on the left side. His slender waist and hips were hugged by dark jeans and red work shirt draped over his shoulders with a certain grace even though it was hard worn and stained with dark grease spots.

Heero wanted to storm over to him right then, take his mouth as his hostage and wrap his arms around that waist. To feel the muscles twist beneath his fingers. Heero tried to steel himself against this spell Duo seemed to hold over him but it was no good. Duo captivated him and held him bound to that spot.

Heero almost left right then, but Duo turned at that moment and saw him. The smile faded from his lips, his eyes lost that sparkle and his eyebrows darted together. Duo's face grew hard and Heero felt his heart drop and his stomach clenched.

"What the hell are _you_ doing here?" Duo asked him.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, this is a Fan Fic!

Ok, so I started out kind of weak, but the plot in my head just keeps getting better. I hope I can transfer it to actual words you can read. Please keep reading, it should get better soon, I promise.

Locked Doors

Part two: Small Betrayals

Heero had been expecting such a welcome, still, it hurt. He wouldn't let Duo see it, wouldn't let it show on his face, but it hurt. But Heero didn't hesitate; he walked right up to where Duo was standing, waiting for an explanation.

"Hello Duo." Heero said as he stopped two feet in front of him, trying to keep this meeting civil, and even knowing now that Duo wouldn't.

"Oh, Yeah?" Duo propped his hands up on his hips. "We gonna keep this civil? 'Hello!' Now go away please." Duo turned on the ball of one foot and walked right back into his garage.

Heero followed silently. He opened the door after Duo slammed it in his face and stepped into the warm office. There was a chilled wind picking up outside and the hint of rain whispered on the air. Though there were no clouds rolling in, the promise of water still hung in the air. Heero wondered how that could be when all of the weather on the colonies was planned carefully and monitored by men.

"Wow, it's like we just had this conversation, Get out!" Duo's voice raised as Heero stopped and pulled off his coat. He draped it over one arm calmly and stared expectantly at Duo.

"Duo, I know the last time I saw you was-" Heero started.

"It was bull shit is what it was Yuy!" Duo sneered.

"And I know that we didn't part on the best of terms-" Heero tried to go on.

"Oh, understatements? From you? Yuy, I'm disappointed, I thought you always told things like they were?" Duo mocked a serious tone and started banging around on a big desk with stacks of papers so thick that you almost couldn't see the desks surface anymore.

"Duo, please stop and listen to me." Heero grabbed Duo's eyes with his own. He knew that Duo wouldn't let it show, but he was really hurting inside. This was painful for him, to have Heero standing there. And Heero knew that his face and voice were devoid of feeling. He had to separated himself from this just so he could even stand in the same room with Duo, but maybe he was coming off the wrong way.

Duo paused, staring at him with anger on his face and an attitude in his stance. He waited, expecting Heero to rationalize his way out of this one.

"I know this is hard for you, it hurts me too." Heero took a breath and went on. "There is no excuse for the way I acted, what I did…what I said…"

Duo held his breath and slowly he relaxed his stance. He saw his own pain reflected in Heero's eyes.

"Yeah, ok. Just talk, I'll listen." Duo kept moving around the office. Filing hard copies and sorting some old papers into a shredder.

"First of all, I owe you an apology." Heero swallowed hard, his throat was dry now. He saw Duo pause, he was listening now.

"When I last saw you, I said-"

"I know what you said." Duo interrupted him, an outburst of anger overcoming him. He looked a little put off afterward, as if he wanted to reach out and snatch his words back out of the air.

"I'm sorry." Heero decided to go for the direct approach.

Duo sighed, some tension releasing from between his shoulder blades. Heero could see the sigh physically; he suddenly seemed smaller, approachable.

"Ok Heero," Duo turned and looked at him. "I get that you're sorry. But nothing you say now is going to take what happened back. I need time to think about this."

Heero was confused now. What was there to think about? He had apologized, now they could get down to business.

Duo could see the confusion in Heero's eyes. "I need to decided whither I want to accept your apology or not. You can't just show up out of nowhere and expect to become a part of my life again. I have a life here, a business."

Heero looked suddenly guilty. Duo frowned, he didn't like where this was going.

"Heero…" Duo let anger seep into his eyes again; this was getting ridiculous! "Why are you even here? You came to apologize…but what else?"

"I am here on official business with-"

Duo started to laugh, loud and harsh. Heero cringed inwardly. He'd made a mistake somewhere, he just couldn't figure out where.

"Oh God Heero! Can you even hear yourself." Duo slapped the papers he'd been holding down on the desk. "Official Business?"

Heero pulled out the folder and opened it to sift through the papers.

"Oh, this is perfect." Duo let out a long string of curses in three different languages. "Ok Heero, what do you want? What do _they_ want?"

"Heero finally pulled out the official warrant that had almost gone into effect and handed it to Duo. Duo skimmed it over and looked at him again.

"This isn't official Heero, what are you doing here?" Duo threw the paper back at him. Heero finally just reached into his pocket and pulled out the piece of paper that had haunted him for weeks now.

Duo grabbed it with a slight smile of annoyance on his face. He looked down at the paper and then his face went from confusion, to instant loathing and anger in a matter of seconds.

"What the Fuck is this Yuy?" Duo yelled at him brandishing the flyer like a club.

Heero knew exactly what it was; it had never been out of his mind once since he'd found it at the crime scene.

At the top of the flyer were bold letter asking for help. Below that was a picture of a church with people in front of it. A priest, a nun and a group of children who were very obviously orphans. Below the picture, in smaller writing were the words: _Help the Children of Maxwell Church find good homes, even in this time of war love will never be lost. _

Heero knew in that instant that all his suspicions had been correct. These killing had never been Duo. As much as some of his superiors might have liked them to be, Duo would never have done such a thing. He'd been correct in keeping them away from Duo.

"Where did you get this Heero?" Duo was still screaming at him.

"I found it at a crime scene were a family of three was killed." Duo went white and looked disoriented. He took a step back away from Heero.

"When?" Duo asked.

"A killer the media has labeled as "The Bible Beater" uses this flier to get into the home and then proceeds to murder the families." Heero dealt out the facts with cold accuracy.

"When Heero?" Duo demanded, shoving the flier back into his hands.

Heero hesitated, and then answered. "Three weeks and four days ago."

"And you waited until NOW to show me this?" Duo asked, words empty of all emotion but a hint of betrayal. He paused then asked, voice dead pan, "They think I'm doing this, don't they." It was more of a statement than a question.

"Yes." Heero answered.

"You kept them away this long?" Duo asked. Heero nodded. "Nice to know our ranks of war heroes hold some status."

"I knew right away that this could not be you, but I am puzzled as to how this criminal might have gotten a hold of this flier." Heero admitted.

"So you wanted my help on this case." Duo looked down at the ground. "That's why you came?"

"Yes." Heero wasn't sure why Duo was asking. Duo shook his head, as if dislodging an idea from his mind and he looked up at Heero with a new expression. No anger, no sorrow, just determination.

"This is being done in the name of my church, I'll help you catch him." Heero was taken aback by his sudden zealous for the case. "The truth is, anybody could have gotten one of these, though I don't know how it survived for so long."

Duo took it into his hands again, this time with a kind of gentle caress. "They were distributed in mass a long time ago. Most ended up on the ground and in the garbage, but some people did donate money for the cause. And a few kids were adopted." Duo got a glazed over look in his eyes, seeing something that Heero couldn't. "He could have picked this up off the ground, I think it's just coincidence that he happened to pick this one up. He's just using it as a ticket into people's houses."

Heero nodded, he was familiar with this side of Duo, cold and calculating as he was. Duo stared hard at the flier. "Was it this worn when you found it?"

Heero hesitated, in truth it had only been folded once when he'd found it. It appeared that the criminal had made copies since they'd found more later.

"Yes." Heero said quickly and shortly.

Duo mumbled something and then handed it back to Heero.

"Can I see the files?" Duo asked.

Heero pulled out the folder he'd put together for Duo again and handed it over.

"Give me some time to go over it." Duo turned away from him abruptly and went to his desk. "Do you have a hotel room close by?" Duo asked, knowing Heero, the perfect solider, would have already gotten a room somewhere.

"I can get one closer." Heero admitted.

"Do that. Here's the number for my direct line." Duo handed over a business card with his number on the back in scrawled writing. "And that's a good hotel, a little pricey, but you should look into it. I know the owner."

"Hn." Heero took the card and turned towards the door.

"Thanks Heero." Duo called after him before he was out the door. Heero turned to look at him, asking with his eyes rather than his voice.

"For knowing." Duo said it quick and sternly, but Heero knew. He'd never faltered in his knowledge that it wouldn't be Duo behind this. But he'd also know that Duo would be quick to help.

Heero nodded once and then left, the door shutting hard behind him. He started walking away, not bothering with another cab.

Duo let out a loud breath. That had been way too stressful. He sat down at his desk and went to open the file.

"DUUUOOOOO?" A voice screamed form the garage. Duo jumped and shoved the file into the top drawer of his desk.

He shoved the chair backwards and quickly walked into the garage. "WHAT?" Duo yelled into the mess.

"Over Here!" Duo followed the voice to the third car down and peeked between it and the car next to it. What he found made laughter catch in his throat. Trapped under half an engine was a blonde woman, her hair pulled up in a ponytail. Her vivid green eyes pleaded with him, as her arms strived to hold up the engine from crushing her.

"Help!" Her voice squeezed out in a squeak. Duo laughed once and reached over to help her lift it. The woman crawled out form under the engine and between the two of them they were able to put it on the ground softly.

Kitty Phillips was a prize mechanic. Most men just saw a woman with blonde hair who liked to wear tank tops and jeans. Duo saw a love for machines and an eye for fixing them. She was the best he could have asked for, and at her last job she'd had been greatly under appreciated. She'd signed on quickly and they got along well.

"What were you doing under the engine?" Duo laughed, trying to keep a straight face and failing.

"The chain just gave!" Kitty exclaimed, throwing her arms wide. "I mean, the link just broke!" Duo followed her to the chain hanging from the ceiling that was on a pulley. It was supposed to help her take heavy part to any part of the garage, but one of the links had clearly given way.

"Why didn't you just let it drop?" duo demanded, getting a good look at the damage. "You could've been crushed!"

"What?" Kitty demanded. "And put all that work to waste? I was here for four hours extra last night fixing that stupid thing!"

Duo shook his head. "You realize Ember would have rearranged my face if you'd been injured."

"Sorry! I'll be more careful next time!" Kitty began to fish out a new chain from a stack of boxes.

"Speaking of your girlfriend." Duo said as he helped her start to replace the old one when she'd gotten hold of the chain. "I just sent someone to her."

"Oh yeah? Old friend?" Kitty pulled hard as the chain caught.

"Yeah, something like that." Duo grunted as he helped her pull and _then_ they hooked it back up to the engine.

"Old war buddy?" Kitty asked from behind the engine as she pulled it back to where she'd been working.

"Yeah, could you have her meet him?" Duo asked, wiping off his hands on his pants.

"Sure, no prob!" Kitty wiped sweat off her face and only succeeded in smearing grease across her cheek. She pulled out a rag from her back pocket and wiped her hands clean. Duo smiled, she wouldn't know about that mark till she found a mirror, and that was a rarity around here.

Kitty pulled out a small phone and hit a button. He put it to her ear and smiled at him, looking almost like a kid who'd just played in the mud.

"Hey Baby!" Kitty chirped as she was connected to Ember. "Oh, I'm ok, its just, Duo's got a friend in town and he just sent the guy your way." She paused. "Uh-huh. Think you could meet him?" She put the phone to the side and mouthed to Duo. _What's his name?_

"Heero." Duo replied. "Brown hair, very messy. He's in a suite." Kitty conveyed the message. Then she gave Duo the thumbs up.

As Duo walked away, he could hear Kitty saying goodbye. "I love _you_!" He shut himself in the office again. He sat down and put his head in his hands.

He knew he was acting foolish. He'd actually been expecting to Heero come back and…Never mind. He'd been stupid.

He pulled out the case file and got down to reading.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, this is a Fan Fic!

Here is the next chapter, I took a quick break to give two more chapters to _Scars_, but let's see if the summer will let me write a little more.

Locked Doors

Part two: Misconceptions

Heero had checked out of his first hotel and now stood in front of the hotel from the card Duo had given him. Heero was surprised, Duo had said he knew the owner, but Heero wouldn't have guessed, nor would he have believed it had anyone else but Duo himself told him.

The hotel was titled _The Hotel Lin_ and it reached up five stories. A bellhop came out, "Are you Heero?" Heero looked him over, and after some consideration he gave a short nod. "Miss Easton has been awaiting your arrival." and took Heero's bags.

Heero followed the bellhop and he led him to a tall woman in a skirt suite of dark blue talking with an equally well-dressed man behind the front desk. She gave him a leather bound folder and turned to look at Heero. Her black hair was pulled back tight in a bun that was slicked down and perfect, shining in the florescent lights. Her bright green eyes held intelligence and she gave him a warm smile.

"Commander Yuy, welcome to The Hotel Lin, I'm the owner, Ember Easton. Duo phoned ahead and said you would be coming." Her smile was friendly and her voice rang with sincerity. She was happy to see him, truly.

"Thank you. Duo told me your Hotel was of good quality." Heero looked around at the marbled floors and rich rugs that all spoke of money.

"We have a suite reserved for you. How long shall I have it held for you?" She tilted her head to the side in question.

"I am unsure at the moment as to how long my stay will last." Heero admitted.

"Very well then, we will hold off on other reservations for the time being." She turned to the man behind the desk and took a card key and a small pamphlet from him. "Here is your room key and a brochure about the hotel and what services we offer."

"Thank you." Heero accepted the items in question and glanced over them quickly before returning his eyes to Miss Easton.

"No, Thank you for choosing my hotel. Any friend of Duo's is very welcome. He is a dear friend." She gave a small bow of her head and left him there to tend to a secretary holding a mobile phone out to her.

Heero looked around the lobby and walked to the elevator. He took the small glass room up to the top floor and found the bellhop leaving his room where he'd put Heero's bag. Heero gave him a nod and entered the room. It was a large suite of deep red and rich green. There was a small living room with a small couch and a large table, a small kitchenette and a room separated by double doors. There was also an extended porch with a view of Duo's garage and a large portion of the city.

Heero went to the large table and instantly set up his laptop and spread out some files. He also called down to the front desk to have the maid service stopped so that no one would have access to his room. The clerk had had to check with Miss Easton, but he got the reserved access to his room in the end. No one was permitted in his room.

Heero worked into the night and finally went to sleep after he'd typed out and sent a report back to the council. He didn't find sleep right away, his thoughts drifted back to Duo. The emotions that flashed across his face so freely, even when he fought not to show them. But Heero knew he was probably the only one who really saw those emotions for what they were. After all, who better to recognize the hidden then one who hides himself.

Duo had been expecting something else when he'd come through the door, that was for sure, but what? He'd taken the apology, that was good, but he'd been thinking it was an apology for something else, or more that what it was. The last they'd been together, the fight…Heero rubbed his hand over his face, hard. He sank back into the pillow. Whatever Duo had expected or wanted, he couldn't give it to him. He was only here to clear Duo's name, he had to set aside everything else. Now was not the time to rehash the past for what couldn't be changed or taken back.

The next day Heero walked down the street to Duo's garage, the problem was the blonde woman in front of him. Heero had woken up early and eaten breakfast for a very large complimentary breakfast buffet provided by the hotel. He'd seen the woman there; she'd been sitting alone, wearing overalls that were tied off with the sleeves around her waist. Dark gray, with a white tank top that was paint stained. She had her blonde hair up in a ponytail a top her hear and her bangs drifter over her vibrant green eyes. She'd eaten waffles and a bowl of fruit. She'd finished just as he did and Heero had wondered why the hotel would allow one of their workers to eat with the guests. But when she'd left her table a passing waiter had tilted his head in a bow to her and gone to clear her now vacant spot.

Heero had followed her out the door and then realized she was headed past Duo's garage. She was probably going to work at one of the many spots of construction for the colony. Probably a visiting technician. Heero had just made up his mind about her when she turned into Duo's garage. Heero had hesitated then. She just sauntered up and walked right in to the office. Heero stayed where he was and watched through the window.

Duo was sitting at the computer on the main desk, he looked tired, even from a distance Heero could tell he'd been up all night, probably researching the case Heero had brought him. The woman had walked around and hugged Duo form behind the chair, looking at the screen over his shoulder. Their cheeks were touching, the intimacy was comfortable and Duo looked instantly more relaxed, as if he was suddenly ready to give up his search and get some sleep. This woman had an amazing power if she could detour Duo from something so important.

Heero felt a pang as the blonde kissed his cheek and then went back to the actual garage where she started to open all the metal doors. Heero didn't want to be found still standing there when she opened the door fully so he walked into the office. He pushed aside all feeling and curiosity about the blonde, and focused on why he'd come here.

"Morning Heero!" Duo greeted, with a strained smile on his face. Heero liked that a lot better than the greeting he'd gotten just the day before.

"Good morning." Heero said and walked around to look at Duo's computer screen.

"I was up all night, looking at the following for this case. There are some major discussion groups out there on this one! A lot of head lines you didn't include in the folder." Duo raised an eyebrow at Heero and Heero caught the hit to his image of perfection.

"They were inadequate. The articles included were the major ones; all others were repeats or stolen information from bigger papers. Nothing substantial that wasn't in the one I had enclosed." Heero said matter-o-factly. Duo smirked at him.

"You mean what _you_ thought was substantial." Heero looked at him quizzically. "There's more here if you read between the lines, not something just anyone would notice." Implying that it was something only he would catch.

"What did you find?" Heero asked anxiously.

"DUO! Amelia is here!" The tension was broken as the blonde woman threw open the door between the office and the garage and leaned halfway in. Duo looked up and then out the front window as a tall woman with tan skin and wavy black hair got out of a cab.

"Oh, sorry Heero, I gotta take care of this." Duo jumped up and followed the woman out the door to greet Amelia.

Heero stood there, quietly, feeling more awkward each minute. He didn't fit in here, Duo's office was just like him, just like every living space he occupied. Clutter filled, dirty, but homey. Duo was more in the room that Heero was right now. It was lived in a comfy. Heero felt almost shamed standing there, looked so neat. But he did his best to ignore it and put on his stone mask.

Duo came back after talking with Amelia, having her sign some papers, and giving her a set of keys to a large car that looked like it didn't really belong to the thin, effeminate woman dressed in a crinkled skirt and blouse.

Duo was talking adamantly with the blonde woman, something about pistons when he looked up at Heero, as if realizing he was still there.

"Sorry about that Heero, oh, this is Kitty, by the way. Kitty Phillips." The blonde held out a hand with greasy nails and calloused. Heero took it and let go quickly.

"You're Duo's war buddy, right?" Kitty smiled at Duo and something seemed to pass between them, unsaid. Heero felt that pang again, but ignored it fiercely. "He'd told me some stories form your glory days! Impressive!"

"Thank you." Heero said quietly. He gave Duo a look that said clearly, back to work.

"Oh! Right! Sorry Kitty, secret police work." Duo smiled.

"Consider me gone!" Kitty waved a hand and turned round and out the door.

"Ok, what was I saying?" Duo sat down in front of the computer again.

"Something about between the lines'." Heero urged.

"Yeah, between the lines, this article here!" Duo brought up a page of one of the local newspapers of one of the first killings. "I'm going to assume you took notice of the attempted robbery and followed through to see if the two were linked."

Heero grunted, confirming that he had.

"But what about this article here..." Duo scrolled till he found the article he wanted, it was about the newspapers own advertising section, where people sold their possessions to other readers. Heero looked at it, skimming the article over. It was a story about someone who'd been using the newspaper to track down houses that held a lot of antiques and valuable objects and was robbing them.

"I've read it, unimportant." Heero grunted.

"Did you notice that the newspaper article is written by the same man and that he uses two sentences that are the exact same in both articles?" Duo highlighted two sentences then skipped back to the main article about the killings and highlighted the same two sentences, hidden in the article. Heero stared at the computer screen hard. He felt anger at himself fuming inside, growing.

"I know it's not much to go on…" Duo stated to say. Heero cut him off.

"It's more that we've got right now." Heero pulled out a tech pad and copied the two sentences down and stared at them.

"Of the two sentences, one fits into one article but not the other, and vise versa. The writer is linking the two articles together, but only if someone knows what they're looking at, I think he was hoping someone exactly like us would catch it." Duo said as he printed out a copy of the two sentences.

"_There were items stolen such as small statues, vases, antiques and cloths."_

_"The suspect left behind no traces or clues and the police are yet baffled by the ferocity of these crimes."_

"The first one seems to fit into the robberies but the second one doesn't, who brakes into a house with ferocity that baffles police? Police assigned to robberies aren't usually baffled unless something had disappeared without a trace, and the rest of the article talked about tagging and multiple suspects, like a gang. And the murders were deffinantly committed by a single person. The second sentence fits in perfectly with the Bible Beater and the writer put down 'suspect' instead of 'suspects' and if the gang was going around breaking things and tagging houses they would have left something behind, some trace or clue." Duo reasoned, almost as if he was thinking out loud rather then trying to explain his reasoning to Heero, "The odd part is, the gang behind the robberies was caught a couple of days later, for the very reason that they did leave behind clues."

"What about this." Heero pointed at the printed sheet, his finger hovering over the word 'cloths'. "I followed that article through a got a list of all the people who were robbed. One of them was priest; he had a lot of old artifacts and silver used in ceremonies. But regardless of all that was stolen, he also lost several sets of robes. I remember because I thought it interesting that someone would bother to steal his cloths as well as silver candlesticks and a two hundred year old relic."

Duo stared up at him, his mind linking to what Heero had just put together. "You think the bible beater was part of the gang, stole the robes and then used it to go solo. Killing instead of robbing empty houses!" Duo's voice held the promise of anger.

"But how is it that the writer was able to make such a connection and didn't print the facts right in the main article, linking the two openly?" Heero asked.

"Ok, how about this," Duo stood and paced the floor. "The writer, Mr. Pinwer, saw something and was able to link the two crimes, but the perpetrator found out and got to him before he could tell anyone or print it in an article!" Duo stopped. He rushed back to his computer and began typing fast and searching through pages. He pulled up an obituary page and cursed as he shoved his chair back from the desk.

Heero read over his shoulder, frowning hard as he confirmed what he suspected the moment Duo's theory had left his mouth.

"Mr. Daniel Pinwer, deceased. From natural causes." Duo cursed again, loudly, kicking his desk. "Well that's just perfect! If he did know something it's too late to ask him now."

"It's my fault, I should have seen that from the beginning." Heero chided himself.

"No Heero, it was easy to miss, I only saw it cuz I kept reading the same lines over and over because I was tired. Then I realized it'd read them before, over and over. They only stuck in my brain because they were some of the only sentences that made sense to my addled brain." Duo admitted as he stretched and slumped again. "I need sleep."

Heero grunted, agreeing with Duo. "I'll be back tomorrow, I have to report this."

"Of course you do." Duo said sarcastically. "Sorry." He added after he'd said it. "Tired." Heero let it go and started to leave.

"Tell you're girlfriend to take over for the day and get some rest." Heero recommended and left.

Duo nodded to himself stood and yelled out the door to Kitty. "I'm going home to sleep this off! Take care of the garage while I'm gone!"

"Good! Go home, you're slowing me down anyway!" Kitty appeared from under a car laying down on a set of wheels screwed into half of an old chair. "Maybe while you're gone I can change the name of the shop and finally set my plans of mutiny in order!"

Duo laughed as he shut the door behind him and gather stuff to go home. He was out the door and headed home when the word hit him. Girlfriend!

Duo let out a string of curses loudly that scared two women walking to the other side of the street. Heero thought Kitty was his girlfriend!


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, this is a Fan Fic!

Yaye, it's another chapter. Finally being able to post a chapter of _Scars_ put me in the mood to post another one here and I just typed, I really didn't expect to get more out so soon! And so much drama!

Locked Doors

Part four: Believe What You See

Duo hadn't told Heero but his home was also in the Hotel Lin. When he'd first come to this colony he'd been out of cash but apparently not out of luck. He had meet Kitty while out looking for a job and a place to stay. She'd been half way into a car engine when oil had splattered her right in the face.

She had cursed loudly and backed away and ran into Duo. Duo had acted on instinct and took her to the side of a building where he saw a spigot. Kitty had been yelling loudly about hot oil in her eye while Duo forced her head down and under the water.

When the oil was finally gone and Kitty was left with only red and irritated eyes she had thanked Duo. Apparently she worked for some company to fix their cars on call and they were underpaying her but it was all she could find. No one else would hire her. Kitty was a very mad woman who had been applying almost weekly to every garage there was on the colony only to be turned away from each one every time.

Duo had helped her with the car and in turn she offered him a place to stay the night. Duo had followed her back to a small hotel that looked a bit run down but as if the owner were trying to fix that.

"This is my girlfriends hotel, she bought it from the police after they found the loser owner selling drugs and whores." Kitty had walked into the lobby and past the girl sitting at the check in counter. The girl with big brown eyes and short blue hair had looked up at him and winked, but Duo ignored her.

"Ember!" Kitty called out, and a woman appeared, she had long black hair pulled back at the base of her head and it flowed behind her like a tail. She had bright green eyes; they were dark pine where Kitty's were light like fresh grass. She wore dark jeans and a blue shirt tucked in.

"What did you bring home this time?" Ember asked as she leaned forward to kiss Kitty.

"This is Duo! He just landed, he needs a place to stay." Kitty smiled brightly.

"And he has no money." Ember looked Duo up and down with a frown. Duo was just about to turn and leave.

"Please Baby! He helped me on a car today, and he saved my eyes!"

"What?" Ember turned back to Kitty with alarm, "What did you do now?"

"S'not my fault, the oil just came out of no where!" Kitty protested as Ember suddenly tilted her head back and was checking her eyes.

"You got oil in your eyes?" Ember sounded beyond alarmed.

"Oh relax!" Kitty pushed away. "At least the battery didn't explode this time! And Duo shoved my head under a faucet!"

Duo couldn't help it, he started to laugh. It went from a snigger that he hid behind his hand to a full blown belly laugh that he couldn't have hid if he'd wanted to. Both women had turned to him and stopped bickering.

"Sorry!" Duo said between breaths, "But you two are great!"

Ember and blushed and Kitty had smiled brightly. "Awe, come on Ember! He's great!"

"Ok, we'll put him in the room next door." Ember finally gave in and welcomed Duo with a hug. The next day Duo had proposed that Kitty help him open his own garage with the promise of a job, Kitty had agreed wholeheartedly. Ember helped them buy the empty building down the street.

Duo stayed with the girls as a permanent resident at the hotel. He didn't have to pay rent and his two new best friends were next door. Ember's hotel grew and grew and Duo's garage started to make money, especially with the business they got form the hotel. Duo loved the life he'd created here, and the Heero had come through his door.

Duo slammed into his room at the hotel and dumped his stuff on the table in the living room. He had a room that was just as big as Heero's but it was on the ground floor past the kitchens and in the back hallway. He had a door outside with a little patio facing the courtyard where the pool was.

Duo grumbled as he went to the bedroom and pulled off his shirt over his head. He scowled as he pulled a fresh shirt from his dresser and slammed the drawer shut.

"Asshole!" Duo kicked off his shoes at the wall. "My Girlfriend? As if!" Duo stormed out into the kitchen and grabbed a beer from his fridge. "He knows perfectly well that I don't like women!"

Duo sat down on the couch and turned on his TV, he laughed harshly, "As if Kitty would ever do me." He flipped the stations, not really caring what was on. "As if Ember would let her! She'd kill me!"

Duo turned off the TV and sat staring at his reflection on the black surface. "He only sees it because he wants to." Duo finished his beer and went to bed; he was asleep on top of the covers as soon as he hit the bed.

Heero paced his room; he'd already sent a typed report of Duo's findings and agents were probably already being sent to investigate the gang that had been caught for the robbing. Heero hated that someone was going around using Duo like that, but did Duo really need his help? He'd been untouched by all of this so far, most of the media didn't even know that Duo lived here and had a steady business. They believed he was hiding on earth somewhere, guilty or not.

This would all be solved before the media got any wiser. And Duo would remain untouched and unaffected. It appeared as if his trip out here had been a waste if not for what Duo had found. Duo was happy here, with Kitty. Even after what he'd said…but who could blame him, Heero knew he'd been harsh. He'd…but that was behind them, and there was no taking back what had been said.

Heero felt his stomach roll and in his mind he could still see how Kitty kissed his cheek, how he relaxed at her touch. Heero walked out onto his balcony and pushed what he'd seen from his mind. He didn't need this kind of distraction. He would stay just long enough to make sure Duo would be ok and then he would leave and go back to the council and his job.

Duo slept the day away; he woke when he got hungry and padded into the kitchen. He opened his fridge blurry eyed and pulled out a Styrofoam box of leftovers. He heated them up so that they were halfway warm and plopped down on the sofa, pulling his legs up under him. Duo turned on the TV, forgetting everything that had happened before he'd gone to sleep. Dusk was set outside so that everything looked slightly orange, and it was dark when Duo finished eating. The "night" was hot, and Duo changed into cut off shorts and a tank top. He shoved his empty Styrofoam box into the trash and left the hotel.

He was restless and needed something to do, so he went to where he felt comfortable, his garage. There was an engine block calling his name that needed careful attention. He'd told Kitty he would handle this one, and now he would. Duo whistled as he walked along happily and people passing by smiled back at him. Duo felt at home here, more so than anywhere he'd been since the war. People knew him here and accepted him, they didn't listen to the hype the Gundam pilots got from being war heroes, here, he was just Duo.

Duo turned on lights and opened one of the garage doors. He turned on some music and got out his tools. Kitty's were mostly all put away, but he could see where she'd left, pieces laying around in a horse shoe pattern as a tell tale of where she'd lain to get under a car. She must have left just a little before he'd gotten there, some of the engines were still hot, the heat made Duo sweat in a double hit of outside air and inside air. The circulation of air coming in the door was like a good slap in the face and Duo loved it. He didn't mind working in these conditions the least, he felt at home.

Duo set about his work and got lost in the heavy beat coming from the stereo and the work in front of him that took up all of his concentration.

Heero decided that he needed to check with Ember on how long he could abide here and take away from her clientele. She probably needed his room for someone else, and he shouldn't be there much longer anyway. If the media found out he'd left his post, they would have no problem tracking his paper trail here. Heero had traveled using the councils means, not his own, which meant someone could easily follow him.

Heero asked at the desk for Miss Easton and the man he'd seen her with that morning said that he would page her, but that she was probably out for the night. Heero nodded and told them he would call her later and not to bother with the page.

Heero wondered to the dinning area for dinner and ate alone in a back table set against the wall. He watched waiters come and go as well as guests. There were businessmen, vacationing families, and traveling lovers. There was even a couple who looked like they might be on their honeymoon. They sat near Heero discussing a trip to a neighboring colony and house back on earth.

Heero finished his meal and paid quickly. He'd seen someone go into the kitchen that was not wearing a uniform. They hadn't come back out, which meant that there were probably service halls back there. Heero decided that he would explore the hotel a bit; he needed to know different routes out of the building.

Heero checked his gun subtly, no one watching him would have noticed what he was really doing, and slid into a door marked 'employees only'. Heero found the laundry shortly after, with maids loading large loads of sheets and towels into industrial sized washers. They chattered as they folded and gossiped loudly. Heero was glad to see that all of the employees here were treated well and seemed to enjoy their jobs. He also passed some waiters standing just outside a door that lead outside and talking quietly while they smoked.

Heero ghosted past all he meet and made his way through the maze of service halls inside the hotel. He was making his way towards the front lobby and passed a number of doors that had no signs on them, but numbers, like the hotel rooms in the rest of the hotel. Heero backtracked and found a short hallway off to the side where he could stop and watch as he heard an all too familiar voice.

"I did good, look, I bought the groceries!" Kitty's voice; Heero peeked around the corner to see her holding large brown bags in either arm. Beside her walked Miss Easton, her suite jacket was off; she wore a tight, white button down shirt with a high collar and a brooch with a red jewel. She had her hair down, it moved around her like a black waterfall, falling over her shoulders and waving into her face as she walked.

"Yes, I see." Ember smiled at her, "You did do good. Did you remember the eggs?"

"Yes, I remembered the eggs!" Kitty said, tilting her head as if indignant of even a hint that she might have forgotten them.

"Then of course you remembered the cheddar." Ember smiled knowingly.

Kitty stopped dead and her face fell. "Oops."

Ember laughed and turned to face her, they were now standing next to the first numbered door. "Don't worry, we'll just go out again later, the omelet can wait."

"Hurry and open the door, my arms are killing me!" Kitty urged her.

"What ever you do, don't drop the groceries, you're carrying the eggs." Ember reminded her.

"Yeah, yeah, I won't drop them, don't worry." Kitty smiled broadly, she shifted the bags and leaned her shoulder against he wall for support while she waited.

Heero was confused by all this, shouldn't Kitty be with Duo right now, why was she with Miss Easton at what was probably her residence here at the hotel.

"Oops! I seem to have lost my keys." Ember very suddenly dropped her keys down Kitty's white tank top. Heero's eyes widened as Kitty squealed and slammed against the wall behind her.

Ember's eyes went predatorily as she made a big show of going after the keys.

"E-Ember!" Kitty blushed hard as Ember found the keys and opened the door, but kept one hand down her tank top, she pulled Kitty in after her and slammed the door behind them.

Heero quickly left his hiding spot and left he service halls at a fast walk. He'd been foolish, he'd assumed things again and found himself with the wrong answers. He needed to apologize to Duo, right now. No doubt Duo was very angry with him by now.

Heero paused in the lobby, he'd slipped out unnoticed, but came to the startling conclusion that he didn't know where Duo lived.

Heero finally chose his only lead and left the hotel for the garage. He walked fast and he felt muffled in the hot air. It seemed as if it pressed in all around him, reminding him that he'd messed up again. Heero had an impeccable record, but it seemed as if everything failed him whenever it came to Duo.

Heero found the garage open and with all it's lights on, music drifted down it's driveway and Heero saw Duo's braid follow him just out of sight as he'd walked by the open door. Heero dashed up the driveway and into the open garage door.

"Duo!" Heero called and Duo turned around in surprise, grease spotting his nose and cheek, his bangs plastered to his forehead with sweat. He wore very little in the warm weather and Heero found himself distracted by Duo's legs. All that bare skin, and his shirt was riding up as he shifted the box he was carrying.

"What are you doing here so late?" Duo asked, a hint of anger in his voice.

"I'm sorry Duo!" Heero let out very suddenly. Duo looked taken aback by his sudden apology.

"For what?" Duo asked, obviously wondering what he was going to accept an apology for.

"I assumed that you and Kitty were involved and I didn't thin-"

"Again with the not thinking!" Duo said in exasperation, he put down his box and put his hands on his hips for emphases. "You do realize that you could fill several books with what you don't think about. For that matter, we could create a guide of what not to say for men based on what you have said since you got here!"

"Duo, that's unfair." Heero frowned.

"Is it?" So far since you've gotten here you've apologized, but for the wrong reasons, you waited three weeks before you brought me in on a case where I was the main suspect, you lied to me a number of times, I know I can see it in your eyes! And you barely even look me in the eyes; you only talk to me when it concerns this killer! I'm going to help Heero, but I want you gone after it's over!" Duo couldn't help it as anger started to pour out from him, built up anger, things he'd been wanted to say for a while spring to mind, but he strove to keep his mouth closed. He wasn't going to open that box, not now.

"Duo! I'm sorry." Heero felt a little of his own anger rising in answer to Duo's. He'd been ready to leave himself, just as Duo wanted him too, but now it seemed like something was holding him here, something other than the case. But right now, that was all he had. "I need your help on this case. You're the best, that's why I came, not just because you were a suspect. I can't afford to have you reject me now; people's lives are at stake. We don't have time to-"

"People's lives?" Duo was outraged at his audacity, "me, reject you." Duo slammed his fist down against the wall, he felt the skin break, but he ignored it, he was too mad. "You're the one who rejected me!"


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, this is a Fan Fic!

Here is the next chapter of Locked Doors and the truth of what happened the last time Heero and Duo saw each other. Feedback please! I'm hoping I did well on this chapter, but let me know! Sorry it took so long, I didn't expect to take this long, but I took a sort of break in the middle of it. Oops.

Locked Doors

Part five: Past Truths

"You're the one who rejected me!" The words hung in the air, almost tangible. Duo realized what he said and that he couldn't take the words back now. He cursed himself silently and waited for Heero to say something.

Heero didn't answer and they both and just stared at each other, breathing hard from the yelling in the heat. Heero was shocked that Duo had brought it up; so far Duo had seemed to be avoiding that at all cost, and here he had just screamed it in his face. Heero had no idea how to respond, everything Duo had said was true, so how could he even begin to defend himself.

"Oh, forget it Heero." Duo finally said, his voice still holding a raised edged from yelling, but calmer in defeat. "Go and hide away again, go back to your perfect world run by a naïve psycho blonde in braids."

"Duo…" Heero started.

"Yeah, go ahead, say it, now is not the time to talk about this, we need to work on the case, go on, say it!" Duo turned away from him and tried to get back to his engine. But he only got as far as the tool box before he slammed his hands down on the red, metal box and turned back to Heero. "What if I want to talk about it? Huh, Yuy? What about that? What if I need an answer, are you just gonna keep ignoring me, gonna pretend I don't exist until the next serial killer goes on a spree and you need my help again?"

"I didn't-" Duo cut him off again as Heero started to talk.

"Didn't what, ran away, oh yes you fucking did, just paused long enough to slug me a good one and then it was off back to your Queen of the World before anyone was the wiser." Duo was building up steam now; he was getting a good rant going without even realizing where all these words were coming from.

"Would you shut your fucking mouth long enough for me to say something?" Heero finally yelled at him. Duo paused, shocked out of speech just long enough to let Heero start.

"I wasn't going to say that." Heero said, his voice calm but the promise of venom on his lips, "I did run away, what I didn't do is take time after the war to stop and think. I just kept going Duo, you and Quatre and the others stopped and looked around, you gathered together what you had and made lives. You had a chance to realize that you…wanted something besides what we…" Heero couldn't find the words he needed which only served to frustrate him more.

"It's called getting a life Yuy." Duo finally said with a heavy sigh.

"Exactly," Heero nodded gravely, "I didn't stop. I kept going; I went straight from the war into the Preventers and onto my post in The Councils Terrorist division. When you…approached me," Heero hesitated on the right words, wanting to get this right, "I wasn't prepared for the truth."

"So you punched me?" Duo demanded. "I caught you off guard, so the first thing that pops into your head is to deck me?"

Heero's eyes lingered on the scar above Duo's lips, a little white line of scar tissue that went up at a sharp angle. It was fairly small, but he remembered how much worse it had looked that day. He'd punched Duo, fist closed tightly as emotions ran rampant in his mind and heart that he couldn't even begin to understand. Duo had flown back, and even at that moment, Heero realized he'd hit Duo much harder than he'd meant to. Duo had fallen to the cement floor of the parking garage and his lip had torn worse.

Duo had just asked Heero out on a date, thought he'd seen signs Heero had been interested. The way his eyes lingered on him as work brought them together so often, the way he opened more around him, talked differently. And in two seconds, everything Duo had been so sure about came crashing down with him to the ground as his blood stained the cement.

"It was the wrong thing to do." Heero said, looking down from Duo's scar to the floor as if it were the thing he was trying to apologize to instead of Duo.

"Damn right it was." Duo snorted angrily.

"I realized that as soon as I had done it, but then it was too late to take it back." Heero remembered the horrifying feeling he'd had as soon as Duo had looked up at him in shock and hurt. Heero had never known he could feel something as strong as he had when staring back into Duo's alarmed eyes.

And then he'd gone and made things worse, instead of apologizing and helping Duo to the Med Center in the offices behind them, he'd stared down at Duo coldly and said, "I don't feel anything for you."

Heero had turned and walked calmly to his car while Duo cursed him. "Fuck You Yuy, Fuck You!"

"So what; you're saying that just freaked out and handled the situation wrong?" Duo's voice brought Heero back.

"Yes." Heero said, hoping Duo understood now.

"Uh-huh and what if I don't accept that?" Duo asked, crossing his arms firmly across his chest.

Heero swallowed hard, "Of corse, you have every right to-"

"Did you lie?" Duo cut him off, his eyes losing some hardness.

Heero paused, unsure he wanted to go where this conversation was leading, but knowing he had no control over it anymore.

"About what?" Heero asked, trying to evade answering.

"Do you feel anything for me? Brotherhood? Friendship? Anything?" Duo asked, staring at Heero as if he would look clean through his eyes and into his soul.

"Duo, right now I just-" Duo sighed heavily and his arms fell to his sides in defeat.

"Hiding again. Who would have known that the big war hero Wing pilot was such a coward?" Duo mocked as he shook his head and ran his hand through his bangs.

"What about you?" Heero suddenly asked, horrified that the words had actually come out of his mouth.

"What about me?" Duo asked, suddenly defensive.

"Do you…do you feel anything for me?" Heero felt as if his heart were twisting into knots, but kept his face expressionless.

"Heero, at the very least we fought in a war together and that makes us comrades, but I always thought of us as friends." Duo felt as if all his old wounds were being torn a new from inside out. "Even if we didn't go any further, I thought we could stay friends. I was happy being your friend, but I thought….the way you acted around me I thought you wanted more, like I did." He looked up at Heero with a manic grin on his face that made a chill creep down Heero's spine. "Didn't figure on you being such a homophobe."

Heero opened his mouth in outrage, anger making his blood boil.

"Gonna deny it Heero, then explain to me why I got a fist in the mouth when a simple 'no' who have sufficed." Duo kept grinning.

"I didn't know how else to respond." Heero finally said, shame making him go red round the ears.

"So you acted out in anger, how childish." Duo mocked him. He really didn't mean to be cruel, but with Heero, things never did seem to go right.

"Yes." Heero finally seemed to deflate in defeat and looked up at Duo. "It was what finally stopped me and got me out of the war. You saved me Duo."

Duo looked skeptical, but something in Heero's eyes told him that something was wrong here.

"The real problem was that I…it was…it was that I did have feelings for you." Heero waited for the fist in his face, even trade was the least he deserved, but when it didn't come he kept going. "I was fine as long as you…as long as we didn't go any further than friendship. But when you approached me that night, it made me realize that-"

"How dare you." Duo's harsh whisper was what made Heero look up. "How fucking dare you! You have the gall, the audacity to come up here and tell me that, oops, it was all a mistake and I really do have feelings for you even though you made me fucking bleed the one time I had enough nerve to gather everything I had and take a chance on you and…" Duo couldn't look at him anymore, he turned away. He had known the moment Heero had appeared at the end of his driveway that it was bad news, that he would bring him nothing but pain, but he couldn't have possibly have conceived this, he wouldn't have thought that Heero would pull this out of his ass and shove it in his face.

"Duo, I was so scared when you asked me to dinner that day, I didn't even realize until later that another part of me was so happy, I didn't even think I could lead a normal life after the war, I shouldn't have hit you. I should have asked for time to think about it, I should have done a million other things!" Heero saw that he was losing Duo, saw that he was slipping away again, and hurt. It was like he'd punched him all over again, and Heero couldn't stand it, seeing that pain visible tightening in Duo's shoulders.

"But you knocked me on my ass and told me you didn't feel anything for me, and you left me there to pick my teeth up off the ground." Duo didn't want to be here anymore, he wanted to go back to when it was just him and his garage, to when it was just him and Ember and Kitty.

"Duo, please! If you could just listen, I did come up here for the Bible Beater case, but I should have come up a lot sooner to tell you, I do feel something for you! I've missed you since you left! I loved seeing your smile everyday; I loved the way you chattered on for hours even when I didn't answer you! I was happy going out drinking with you and when you forced me to go to those insane parties with the other Preventers and-"

"But you didn't Heero. You let me leave and you didn't chase after me. You came up here for my help on this case and that is exactly what you're going to get." Duo wouldn't cry, he wouldn't cry in front of Heero!

"Duo, please just listen, I have to tell you-"

Duo mumbled something that Heero didn't catch. "What?"

"Get Out!" Duo yelled looking up at him with eyes that burned with anger and betrayal. "I am not just going to forgive you everything because you came up here to tell me that you made a mistake. Everyday that you didn't apologize made it that much worse, you can't just erase this with an apology Yuy! Now get out of my garage!"

Heero stood there, his feet unwilling to move, what he wanted to do was grab Duo up in his arms and hold him tightly, to kiss him till he couldn't breathe, but he couldn't move though every nerve in his body burned to touch Duo.

"Get off my property!" Duo screamed and moved as if to make him leave. Heero stumbled backwards and then turned away from Duo's hatred and left at a brisk walk for the hotel.

Duo watch Heero leave again, he was getting real tired of only seeing the back of that man. He then proceeded to throw a fit, breaking the stereo he and Kitty used in the garage that had speakers big enough to project the music over the power tools. He ended up out side on his back on his driveway staring up at the fake stars overhead.

Even on earth the stars wouldn't be visible with so much light coming from the city, but there they were. And Duo had to force himself to remember that he was really spinning out in space and not back on earth. Even with the stale air that was never quite as fresh as it was on earth, being recycled always left it wanting.

Duo wished very suddenly that he was back on earth, before everything had spun out of control so badly. Wished he'd never been dumb enough to hold out his heart in his hands to Heero. He'd always been afraid that he'd get that reaction from Heero, but then at the time it'd seemed as if Heero had felt the same way, then he'd been shoved away and everything they'd become had disappeared in a brief moment. And now it turned out that Heero had been lying, that he really had felt the same way, but had been 'too scared' to admit it.

Well, Duo was tired of this bullshit! He didn't want to have to deal with this, shouldn't have to! He decided that he'd help Heero solve this case and then it was goodbye for good. He'd make sure Heero left this time and never looked back. He'd make Heero knew with no possible room for doubt that he was not welcome.

At the same time, Duo hated the part of himself that still felt hope. It'd come alive when he'd heard those words from Heero. 'I did have feelings for you' He hadn't even been sure he'd heard them correctly, but then he'd gone on. And a part of Duo that had been buried long ago had begun to shine again and Duo felt betrayed by everything, even his own feelings. Truth was, he did want to forgive Heero everything, but he wouldn't let himself, other parts of him were still too hurt from that day so long ago. Duo cursed his pride and cursed his heart. He didn't know which to follow, his head or his heart, and it felt as if he were being torn in two, but not right in half. Parts of him were going one way, while the rest of him went the other. A big messy, gory, bloody mess of bits and pieces of him. Duo did cry then, he wept staring up at fake stars and wondered why leading a normal life was so much harder than being a killer in the middle of a war.

Heero slowed down after he could no longer hear Duo's screams from his garage and stopped and leaned back against a building. He hadn't meant to go and say all those things, he'd just wanted to apologize for assuming that Kitty had been his girlfriend. He was also baffled with himself for ever thinking that, he should have known that Duo wouldn't have a girlfriend, he was gay.

Heero still wanted to run back and hold Duo, wanted to be able to touch him and kiss him and breathe in his sent. But he wasn't allowed, Duo had made that perfectly clear. And he was right, Heero had absolutely no right to come up here, apologize and expect everything to be ok. He'd been foolish to think that even for a second, Duo might still harbor feelings for him, he'd taken care of that himself the moment he'd let his anger and fear override his feelings.

Why was everything so hard, it'd been so much easier just following orders in the war, wasn't a normal life supposed to make him happy, wasn't he supposed to be free to love and live now? Instead he found himself wishing he could just stop feeling anything again and go back to the war.

But he couldn't do that. Heero pushed off the wall and headed back to the hotel. He'd go back tomorrow and work on this case with Heero, because no matter what happened, there was still a killer lose on earth who had free reign as long as The Council still thought it was Duo. And no matter what, Heero couldn't let that go.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, this is a Fan Fic!!!

Took a trip home and got inspired. Hopefully I can keep up the chapter updates. Thank you if you have left a review!

BTW I have a myspace now, do a search for the email: Doors

Part six: Cold

Heero didn't have time to stop and worry about how Duo would react to seeing him so soon, he'd barley gotten any sleep last night and had awoken to the sound of his cell phone ringing with Linton patching him through to Wu-Fei.

Since the case had started, specialists had been pulled in due to their number one suspect being Duo, Wu-Fei and his team from Preventors had been called in to help with investigations and after getting Heero's last call, Wu-Fei had gone and tracked down the gang that had been arrested for the robberies through the want adds.

Heero rushed up the driveway to Duo's garage only to find it empty. Heero cursed himself for not getting Duo's home phone number or even an address. The death toll on Earth from the Bible Beater had grown; he'd hit a city in the last two days and killed five families. Heero shook with anticipation; he was just going to have to wait here for Duo to show up.

Heero paced in front of the door, anger building up in him, two of those families had had children. Heero wanted this guy, badly. He paced and kept looking up the street and checking his watch. Time was moving immeasurably slow and Heero thought of going back to the hotel to track down Kitty and demand she contact Duo, but Duo would only react badly to such aggression, and Heero needed him to concentrate on the case right now, no matter how many times he'd thought of doing that last night for a different reason.

Finally, Heero saw Kitty's blonde head in the crowd and next to her Duo strolled. Heero was shocked to see that he looked hung over. Kitty was trying to get him to drink more of the spots drink in his hand was talking in soothing tones to him, but before Heero could catch what she was saying, Duo looked up and saw him and a look of pure exasperation crossed his face.

_He hates that I'm here._ Heero thought as his heart snapped and he tried not to let the hurt show on his face. He had to put that aside for now.

"Duo!" Heero said, walking towards him when Duo had stopped in the street. Kitty looked up with a frown and realized that Duo wasn't walking beside her anymore and looked back at Duo. Her head snapped back and forth between the two of them when she caught the look on Duo's face.

Duo sighed before Kitty could say something about it and motioned Heero up towards the garage. "It's not the middle of the night anymore, let's try and refrain from making a scene in front of all these people on their way to work."

Heero nodded, what he had to say wasn't meant for other ears anyway, he waited impatiently while Duo dug out his keys and opened the front door and then let Kitty into the garage to open shop. Duo slumped into his desk chair and sipped some more of his drink. He looked like he was going to reprimand Heero for being there so soon, but Heero cut him off before he could start.

"I got news from Wu-Fei this morning." He said and watched as Duo's expression changed from the beginnings of anger to eager curiosity."

"Wait…" Duo paused, "Wu-Fei's on the case too?"

Heero didn't want to say anything else, but Duo made the connection on his own.

"Oh, I get it, better to fight fire with fire if it did turn out to be me." He looked disgusted, but just motioned for Heero to continue. Heero wanted to apologize for those people, but he himself had thought it wise, even though he knew there was no way it had been Duo doing the killing.

"Wu-Fei found the gang that was doing the robbing and questioned them. He was able to separate them and one of them admitted that there was one more of their original gang who hadn't been caught and is still lose." Heero saw the light in Duo's eyes ignite.

"I was right! What else!?" Duo saw that Heero had more to say.

"Someone needs to find out how the gang hacked into the newspaper to get the information on the houses they were stealing from," Heero continued.

"I'm all over it!" Duo promised, reading the implication in Heero's words.

"And we need to stop him before the killings escalate again." Heero didn't want to admit this part; "He has killed twelve more people, five families, in the last two days."

"Fuck!" Duo cured violently.

"There's something else." Heero said, this next part had made his skin jump when Wu-Fei had warned him.

"What is it Yuy?" Duo asked, his words stung, but Heero just pushed foreword.

"They think he may have left earth for the colonies." Heero said, and Duo's eyes went wide in silent shock, "Wu-Fei thinks he might be coming after me, that he might know that I came here to clear your name. That he's coming to silence us both."

Duo's eyebrows shot down in anger. "Let him try." He said in a quiet voce that made Heero's gut tighten. "Either way," Duo pushed aside his outburst and turned to power up his computer, "I can get us into that newspaper."

Heero pulled up an extra chair that he assumed Kitty used when she was in the office. He ignored the way Duo stiffened when Heero pulled the chair close enough to watch the computer screen while Duo pulled out the keyboard and pulled up the window he wanted.

"You know, you don't have to stay, I can do this on my own and just send you the results." Duo mumbled Heero sense how bad his mood was just from that one sentence. Duo was hung over, grumpy and tense. Heero resisted the urge to try and talk about what had happened the night before.

"It is more convenient that I am here now, and will save from any confusion over the results." Heero dished out, leaving out the part where he got to sit so close to Duo and breathe in his sent and feel the warmth off his skin.

Duo grunted, stealing Heero's usual response and just started navigating around the newspapers website. He found a way in quickly and bypassed all the security measures on the page. Heero watched Duo's fingers fly as he retreated into his element and lost his sense of everything else.

Almost instantly his shoulders began to relax and the strain around his eyes softened. Duo shifted in his chair and forgot how mad he was at Heero, how drunk he'd gotten last night, and just how little sleep he'd gotten as well. He drifted through the page like a ghost and found his way to the page that was titled as Classifieds.

"Can you go back, the current page won't have anything that…" Duo cut off Heero, almost jumping when Heero's voice had broken his concentration.

"I know what I'm doing Yuy. Just sit back and watch so I don't have to explain this to you later." Duo typed a little faster and ghosted back till he could begin to access the memory files of the newspaper and pull up information from days long past. He sifted through pages till he found one that jumped out at him, it had been tampered with.

Heero looked at the date on the page that Duo pulled up, "That's a couple of days before the first burglary." He confirmed what Duo had suspected.

Duo eased in, typing around the problem and then dove in, at first, it seemed almost as if the hacker had been sloppy, that Duo would be able to trace it back to its source, but then Duo saw one of the keys he hit change once it was on the screen.

"Shit!" He cursed violently and pulled out quicker than Heero could follow, he went all the way back to his desktop and pulled up a program that Heero didn't recognize just as the top of the screen started to go bright green. Heero frowned as Duo pulled away and sat back to stare at the screen. Duo glanced his way then sighed heavily.

"Virus." He said and just watched as the entire screen turned that almost too bright green. "I was barely able to pull up my own defense."

"Is that what that program was?" Heero asked as he watched the screen begin to change to a deep violet.

"Yeah, something I pulled together during the war, I perfected it here, after I was settled. Wouldn't do to lose all my orders to some hot shot who thinks he can out hack an ex pilot." Duo smirked as his desktop came back up and a small window informed him that the virus had been isolated.

"Whoever hacked that page made sure his trail wasn't going to be followed. And I don't think it was our buddies in jail, somehow I doubt their little gang would've been up to this." Heero nodded his agreement.

"Probably hooked up with someone who was serious and ditched them the first sign of trouble." Heero pulled out his cell phone to call Wu-Fei.

Duo pushed away from the desk and stood to stretch, "Well, if you think of anything else, give me a call." He bent down and scribbled his number on a scrap piece of paper and handed it to Heero before tuning and going out in the garage to join Kitty.

Heero was left with his thumb paused over the 'send' button and staring after Duo with the scrap of paper clutched in his other hand. He was so cold today, distant. Heero had thought it might be the hangover, but that moment told him just how much Duo was trying to distance himself from Heero. Back…before everything had gone so wrong, Duo wouldn't leave him alone. They were together whenever they could manage it. Meeting outside of work, Duo would call him and they'd go out to eat, Duo had used to worry about Heero forgetting to eat.

The absence of that made Heero's gut clench painfully and he could only try not to run after Duo and turn to head back to the hotel. This was what Duo wanted, it was Heero's fault that they were where they were now, if this was what Duo wanted, what he needed, the by gods Heero was going to give it to him, it was what he owed his friend in the least. Though the core of him yearned for so much more, he would force himself to respect Duo's wishes.

Kitty watched Duo as Heero turned and left. Duo's bright eyes followed him the whole time while hiding behind the open hood of the car he was supposed to be working on. She saw Duo's hands clenching at his tools till his knuckles were white and saw the tension in his shoulders as he watched the tall, dark, and brooding man leave.

Kitty sighed to herself; that was the fucking love of Duo's life. She'd heard hints of great heartbreak from Duo himself when he'd gotten drunk before, but last night, when he'd called her sometime in the early morning hours, he'd never sounded worse.

She'd kissed her partner and left before the sun came out. She'd gone into Duo's rooms to find him sprawled on the floor in front of the couch with an empty bottle of tequila. It'd been mostly gone before, so she hadn't worried too much, what had gotten to her was the look in Duo's eyes as he looked up at her.

"Am I so repulsive?" He'd asked her and her heart had lurched for him. She'd gotten him to drink some water and then started on the sports drinks as she began to assure him otherwise.

"I don't understand, he's a fucking rolling caster, rolla costner, roll…ya know!?" Duo had slurred as he laid his head down on Kitty's shoulder.

"I know honey." Kitty had replied. "Doesn't know what he wants."

"Yeah, after all this time, I'm s'sposed ta just…I dunno, drop m' pants an take it r'then an there!?" Duo had tears rolling down his face without realizing it.

"Of course not, you don't have to wait around forever for him to make up his mind; you have your own life." It had quitted down Duo.

"Yea, m' own." Duo had let her coax him to doze off on the couch while she cleaned up the living room. She'd been answering him off sheer instinct, now she knew who he'd meant.

_Old war buddy my ass,_ Kitty wiped her hands on her rag and strolled over to where Duo was still staring after Heero though the man had already disappeared from view.

"You making head way on Heero's case?" Kitty asked, startling Duo out of his stupor.

"Yeah." Duo nodded sharply and bent down into the engine, Kitty leaned back against the bumper and stared straight ahead at nothing.

"Looks to me like he's upset about something, you sure you don't need help? I have contacts you know." Kitty teased, trying to get to him the roundabout way rather than jumping the gun and getting him mad at her.

Duo snorted, "Contacts? Somehow I don't think Jason's Burgers is going to be much help on this one." He gave her a strained smile, still trying to keep things from going where they got painful. Kitty gave in a let him win this one.

"Ok, but keep Jason in mind, he's got chains all the way back to Earth." Kitty pushed off and returned to her car.

Duo sighed; he knew what Kitty had been trying to do, knew that she saw what was really there between him and Heero, if there was anything there at all. But he really didn't want to go there right now. Wasn't quite ready to let go of his anger or his hurt, there was still a chance that Heero would just leave after all of this was done and he could go back to the way things were. But Yuy was nothing if not persistent, and Duo had a feeling that he was going to have to deal with all this soon than he thought.

Heero stared at his phone, he'd just gotten off with Wu-Fei, there was going to be more talks with that gang, but there was really nothing else they could do right now, they had run into only dead ends and were now stuck at an impasse.

Heero found himself dialing Quatre's number without thinking. Really, Quatre got along more with Duo than the rest of them, but he never turned Heero away when he needed to talk to someone.

"Heero? That you?" Quatre answered on the forth ring, Heero could hear people in the background.

"Is this a bad time?" Heero asked, feeling ashamed now that he'd stooped to calling Quatre, as if calling for backup for dealing with Duo.

"No, I just got out of a meeting, your timing was perfect." Quatre assured him and the background got quiet. Heero could see him walking into his office and locking the door, he wouldn't let business come between him and them. Them being the five ex pilots, Quatre revered them as family almost more than his many sisters.

"I was just…" Heero heave a heavy sigh. "I think this was a mistake Quatre, I could just as easily have called him, I didn't have to come all this way."

"Heero, it's good that you're there, a simple call would have been so much worse." Quatre said simply, washing away a lot of Heero's tension with his soft words.

"He hates that I'm here." Heero pleaded no question about who 'he' was.

"No Heero, it's not that, it's that he hates what this is doing to his emotions." Quatre tried to explain, "No of us are very good with emotions, you know that. It's all due to the war, we all have problems with it, more so than anyone else. Duo doesn't like the feeling of being unsure. As long as you were away he was sure about how you felt about him, but now you're contradicting that." It was as if Quatre knew exactly what was going on, though he was not there, and couldn't possibly have known any of this.

"I just…Gods, I can't do this!" Heero ground his hand into a fist where it rested on his knee and tried not to slam it into something in his frustration.

"Yes you can Heero." Quatre told him firmly, "It doesn't matter what go you there, it matters what you do while you're there. You can't let it go this time, I think this is the last chance you get." Quatre sounded so sad.

"Yeah, I know." Heero mumbled.

"Good, don't give up Heero, he does love you, even after everything and all these years, that love isn't gone. Just buried. And you love him, and now that you know it, you can fix this." Quatre seemed to have such faith in him, Heero wasn't sure he wouldn't ruin it all again.

"But what if…" Heero started, doubt making him sick to his stomach.

"No buts Heero." Quatre ordered. "Don't let this slip away; love has to be fought for."

Heero said a sullen and exhausted goodbye to Quatre and fell asleep on the couch in his room. He had to fix this, but how?


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, this is a Fan Fic!!!

My friend complained about me not posting another chapter between my updates for _Scars_, (oops) so here we go.

BTW I have a myspace now, do a search for the email: this chapter is going to suck; I was going great for 3 pages (each chapter is only 5 pages long in Word) when the computer died and took my story with it. I spent a few hours just trying to recover from that loss, I thought I was doing great, and then afterwards I couldn't remember anything I'd written outside of basic plot! All those little things, Duo's quirks and thoughts as I was typing: GONE!

**I was very pissed and very upset and now the chapter has just died on me and will never be the same. Sorry. This is my sad attempt at trying to recapture what I had going…what I can remember…and it sucks. Fuck.**

Locked Doors

Part seven: Hot

Duo didn't go into work the next day, he called Kitty who protested but came and got the keys and opened by herself. She said that he shouldn't let anything keep him down, that he couldn't let anything keep him from the job he loved, but in the end, he was still recovering from a severe lack of sleep and a bad hangover. Duo crawled back into bed and went back to sleep.

He'd been having trouble lately; if he was truthful with himself he'd been having a bout of insomnia ever since Heero had shown up. His appearance in his front drive had dredged up thoughts form the back of his mind, the part of his mind that held war memories and images of a giant fist coming at him. He slept better in the day, the light offering some protection against nightmares and he took this chance to get a decent rest.

Duo slept till sometime around noon and then got up and rummaged around in his little kitchen. He came out with a sandwich and some soup and set up camp on the sofa. He slouched till he was sitting so low he was peeking over his own toes to see the TV as his feet rested on the coffee table.

His cell phone went off some time later and Duo had to scramble off the couch to reach the phone on its charger in his bedroom before it went over to his voice mail. He glanced briefly at the caller id before answering, letting out a groan of frustration.

"Hello Heero." He'd been so nervous yesterday, even as he'd casually scrawled his number down on a piece of paper, hoping that Heero would call, but at the same time, dreading it.

"I just got off the phone with Wu Fei." Duo tried to ignore the chill he got down his back just from the sound of Heero's voice. The man was really just too sexy to be allowed.

"Oh, and what does Wu Fei have to say?" Duo tried for nonchalant.

"He's going back to question those gang members some more, he says he needs more time to get a name and a description of our killer, but he's sure he can get them." Heero sounded like he was talking to any other Preventor agent, Duo held onto that, the betrayal of his coldness to someone he apparently had 'feelings' for and kept it as a shield to keep him from the strain in his heart. Heero was an ass, a confused, deranged ass.

Duo let out a strained laugh, "I don't think they're gonna talk to 'Fei, Heero.

"Why?" Heero asked, confused, determination creeping into his voice.

"Wu Fei's an ass." Duo said simply, "He's not street and they're not gonna trust him not to protect them if the killer turns around and comes after them if they tattle."

"Street?" Heero asked, confused as ever.

Duo sighed and pushed on. "Wu Fei's a pampered ass, so are you, and when you get down to it, I guess Quatre also falls into that category too, but at least he's less of an ass than the two of you. Me an' Trowa are street, we know what it's like out there, you don't trust the law and you don't trust pampered asses, it's a good way to get yourself killed. He's probably talking down to them too, like you'd talk to kids who don't know what's really going on. They may not know the big words, but they know what's going on Yuy, probably better than you or 'Fei."

"So they're not going to trust him enough to give us any more information on the killer because of Wu Fei's upbringing." Heero finished for him. Duo "Mm-hmm'd" his response. He was now upside down on his couch, his legs up on its back and his head hanging off the edge while his braid trailed down beneath him to curl up on the floor.

"What if you talked to them?" Heero asked.

"Nope, they're not going to trust some stranger over a vid anymore than they would 'Fei." Duo shook his head, trying to cut this off from where it was going, not liking it one bit. "Wu Fei say anything else?"

"We have a pseudonym." Heero said, strained, Duo suspected that he hadn't planned on divulging that.

"How?" Duo asked as he flipped to sit up again, slightly dizzy from all the blood that had rushed to his head.

"A package arrived at Port to be picked up by an R. Kado." Heero said, it sounded like he was flipping though a folder, "There were cloths inside. There is no doubt he is on his way to L2."

Duo shivered, he could see that white collar in all that black laying out on an examining table while men stood around in plastic gloves with microscopes and tweezers. No one had to say what kind of cloths; the ports had to be checking bags, so he'd sent them on ahead.

"So wait, if you have that, couldn't you just look for a face on Port security?" Duo felt the strain over the phone without Heero having to say anything.

"We could, but we're having a problem of sorts with Port security." Duo wanted to laugh at that, "They won't let us in to look."

"So the killer went back and hacked the system to erase said face from Port security." Duo guessed and was rewarded with a grunt from Heero that said he agreed with this.

"Wu Fei thinks its pride that they were so easily hacked and they are trying to fix it on their own." Duo could almost hear the angry Chinese curses.

"If this guy is that good, it's not a matter of pride, but of getting him stopped." Duo admonished. Duo got up and chased down his boots.

"There's nothing we can do if Port won't let us in to at least have a look." Heero sighed heavily.

"Yeah, well, Mr. Killer isn't the only one who can hack Port, Meet me down at the garage in five." Heero didn't answer, just hung up, and Duo hurried to beat him out of the building.

Heero caught up to Duo as he walked briskly down the street for the garage. Duo hoped he hadn't seen Duo leave the hotel, he'd already woken to find Heero waiting outside his garage, and he wasn't ready for the kind of invasion on his home. Though he did wonder, and wondered again now, why Heero hadn't used his position to find out Duo's home address on his own.

They walked quickly to the garage and Duo was surprised to find it closed, he stared at it, the lights in the office off and all the garage doors closed. Where was Kitty?

"I guess we're going in the back, I gave the keys to Kitty this morning to open." Duo led the way around the building. Duo pulled a small set of lock picks from his braid, a move that got his raised eyebrows from Heero. Duo just shrugged a gesture that meant nothing and everything. Things happened; it was always good to be prepared, didn't mean he was going around breaking into anything put in front of him. He said as much without saying anything, even managing to relate the sarcasm which was not lost on Heero.

They walked into the garage and got no further than five feet. Inside, Kitty and Ember were at one of the docks in the middle of the garage. Kitty was sitting on the hood of a car, her feet braced on its bumper while Ember leaned into her between her legs. Ember's bun was falling out as Kitty ran her hands through her mate's hair while Ember kissed her furiously. There were already vivid hickeys on Kitty's neck and her tank top was riding up as Ember's hand snaked up the back. Ember's jacket was hanging off a work bench as Kitty had worked her blouse halfway open.

"Shit!" Duo laughed abruptly and both women broke apart. Kitty was blushing faintly and smiling back at them, Ember's lipstick smeared over her mouth. Ember had turned away and was buttoning up her shirt quickly, her ears bright red.

Heero found that he was blushing furiously and trying to find some place to look, but Duo just laughed, "We interrupt and little lunch break nookie girls?" He smiled brightly at Kitty who just smiled back, making no effort to move or adjust herself.

"Shove it Maxwell." Ember smirked as she finally turned around and went about straitening out her hair.

"I thought you weren't coming in today boss-man." Kitty giggled.

"Change of plans, and don't smile so much, you're in trouble." Duo teased.

"Whatever for?" Kitty finally jumped off the car and stood as Duo walked up, Heero still hanging back a little.

"You closed for nookie." Duo accused.

"I closed for lunch." Kitty corrected.

"I don't see any food." Duo countered.

"We ate it already." Kitty laughed.

"They why aren't we open again if you're done with lunch." Duo pointed for emphasis.

"I was just having desert." Kitty grinned so that all her teeth showed.

"Touché." Duo laughed laoudly and they left the women to go into the office. Heero looked back to see Kitty kissing a rushed Ember who was leaving, looking as prim as she had the first day he'd seen her. The both smiled at each other, nothing else exsisted in their world and Heero felt a dull ache spring to life in his chest, a sadness and yearning making him turn to look at Duo.

Duo wasn't looking at him; he was decidedly not looking at him. Heero sighed inwardly, he'd lost his chance at that, he could've had what Ember and Kitty had and he'd ruined it. He'd punched it in the face.

"All right, let's get booted up!" Duo interrupted his thoughts. Heero watched as he pulled out his key board again.

Kitty popped her head in, "So do I open now that you're here?" She asked.

"No." Duo said distractedly. "Just work closed and leave at normal closing, I don't want anyone else in here today."

"You got it." Kitty saluted them, Heero tied not to stare at her hickeys; they were so bright against her still flushed pallor. She winked at him before leaving. Heero turned back to Duo, turning his attention from one neck to another. What would it be like to taste that neck, to nuzzle next to those little hairs that fought free of his braid, to have Duo's hot breath gasping out next to his ear…

"If they're trying to fix things right now, we're going to have to do some light stepping to avoid notice while they're all digging around, but if we're lucky, which we are, they'll just think we're with them." Duo said as he piggybacked into the Port Security System on another user.

They navigated a bit, Duo attacked the system with a vengeance and started filtering though ruined footage off of vid cameras placed all throughout the Port on earth. He unscrambled some, but growled in frustration when he got kicked out a second time.

"It's not them, it's him." He told Heero who was looking equally frustrated. "Who ever he is, this guy knows what he's doing, that newspaper virus is nothing compared to this."

"It doesn't help that all of Port Security is getting in your way." Heero glowered on his behalf, not seeing the startled look Duo got, or the smiled he'd won.

"Yeah well, I say we try again later tonight. Too much traffic right now; I'm not doing much good without the space." Duo stood and stretched, they'd been at it for three hours now. Heero stood up, just as stiff. Duo smiled faintly at him, forgetting his anger for a moment.

"I say we order food." Duo called Kitty in from the garage. She came in, grease covering her now, she seemed to get as dirty as Heero ever remembered Duo getting when he'd been at work. "You want food?"

"Only if it's Jason's." She smiled broadly, whipping her cheek on the back of her arm, smearing the grease there instead of removing it.

"Sounds like a plan to me." Duo smiled. "Your usual?" He asked, turning to fetch a paper menu from a file drawer. Kitty nodded and went back to work.

"What is Jason's?" Heero asked. Duo handed him the menu.

"Kitty always gets their meatball sub, fries and a drink. I'm partial to the classic cheeseburger myself." Heero stared down at the long list of sandwiches listed on the menu. He found a chicken sandwich that looked promising and realized that Duo was leaving to get their food.

"Sit and relax." He told Heero, "Call Wu Fei or something." He smiled at the stare he got for that one. "I'll be backing fifteen."

Heero watched him leave, it was so much better when Duo forgot to be mad, it was almost like old times.

"God, men." Kitty's voice startled him. He turned to find her leaning in the doorway between garage and office.

"Excuse me?" Heero asked.

"You heard me. You two are so mixed up in yourselves! Just jump his bones already!" Kitty went back to the garage, Heero followed her.

"He doesn't, he's…" Heero started to protest. Kitty turned on him.

"Mad, sad, betrayed, hurt, lonely, horny, stubborn, self loathing, am I leaving anything out here!?" Heero was taken aback by the green fire of her eyes. "Yes, he is mad at you, I don't know what went down that drove him here, but he loves you!" Kitty scolded. "Nothings gonna change that. But don't let him drive you off cuz he's mad now. Later he won't be, it's already fading."

"I hit him." Heero suddenly blurted out. Kitty looked shocked for all of two seconds and then laughed.

"You…hit him!?" She was dancing between humor and a very dangerous anger, Heero was suddenly very aware of the heavy wrench in her hand. "Did you mean it?"

"No!" Heero protested.

"Good. Now just keep apologizing, keep being charming and fight for him back." It was what Quatre had said. Was it so easy for everyone to read them!?

Kitty frowned, stared hard at him and her eyes started to dance more towards anger, "You ever hit him again…I don't care if you are ex-Gundam, your ass is mine. And remember, I survived that war too."

Heero suddenly wondered what she'd done during the war, made a mental note to look into that later and just nodded for now. Kitty grinned at him again, all teeth, and turned back to her car.

Heero waited in the office for Duo, thinking. When Duo did walk in, Heero felt warmth spread through him. He hadn't felt that in a long time. Duo smiled at him before he took out Kitty's food to her. He'd made a life for himself here after Heero had thrown him out of his. Would he be willing to leave this behind now that Heero had finally come to his senses? Would Heero be able to ask that of him, or was it all doomed form the start no matter what it was that everyone else saw between them?

No matter what they said, Duo was still mad, still recovering from what Heero had told him, now wasn't the time to get into all of this. Not with a killer after them, and not when that killer was so close and still faceless.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, this is a Fan Fic!!!

I keep getting bothered about this fic by my muse, so you have her to thank for all the updates I do. Sorry for the long pause between chapters, I'm trying to get back on track now, so bear with me!

Locked Doors

Part Eight: Revelation

"Bullshit!" Duo cursed his computer and shoved the keyboard away from him. Heero woke with a start and looked around. His neck protested and Heero realized he'd fallen asleep in the extra chair in Duo's office.

"Sorry." Duo cringed as he rubbed at his eyes and stood to walk away from the desk. Heero glanced down at his watch and realized it was morning already; they'd been here since yesterday. Kitty had gone home sometime last night, leaving them to work on Duo's computer. Heero had given Duo a break, following his orders around Port Security while he lay flat on the floor trying to get his back to relax.

However, that hadn't lasted long, Duo had grown frustrated and taken over again, his skills surpassing Heero's in this field. Heero just held vigil while Duo toiled into the night, the thought of a break for at least a nap never crossed his mind. He did talk Heero though finding a coffee pot on what turned out to be a counter and not just a large pile of boxes stacked against the wall. But any passing thought or comment he might have normally voiced were locked away and all his energy was harnessed into the computer screen in front of him.

"You need to take a break." Heero observed, the last time he'd glanced at his watch it had been five forty. It was now three hours later. "Why didn't you wake me?" Heero asked as he stood and felt his back muscles strain from the change in position.

"Oh well, you looked so peaceful asleep," Duo smirked as he dove back into Port Security as he had been doing more and more often in the growing light of morning. "It was such a nice change from you scowl." Duo didn't even think about the words before they passed over his lips, he had a sneaking suspicion that whatever R. Kado had put in the system was starting to recognize him.

Heero tried to let the words pass over him as he so often had, he could remember worse remarks Duo had made about him, or yelled in his face, but somehow, in light of everything, Heero felt a certain sting with Duo's words.

"Shit!" Duo cursed again. Heero moved to stand behind him so he could watch the screen over Duo's shoulder.

"What is it?" Heero asked, pushing away his hurt to watch the quickly disappearing windows on the screen.

"I was just wondering if our killer's handiwork was recognizing my signature, and now it's trying to follow me back out!" Duo was typing furiously; Heero could follow a certain code on screen matching his every move. "Gimmie a sec…" Duo stretched out his words as he ducked through some running programs and lost the code long enough to attach his own virus to his signature and then stopped typing and let himself get caught.

They watched as the code appeared to be eating away at his data, Heero felt a thrill of panic for a moment and then everything retreated and Duo's screen returned to its desktop. Duo let out a sigh and threw his head back with his eyes closed and slumped in his chair.

"Well, that's the end of that." Duo told Heero, not bothering to open his eyes again, just sat there and tried to ride the pain shooting up his back and through his elbows and wrists.

"I don't understand." Heero stared down at Duo with confusion.

"It recognizes me now, and that virus I gave it, I can only hope it's not going to turn around and attack Port Security…" Duo trailed off then said in whisper that Heero almost didn't head, "…deserve it…"

"What was that virus!?" Heero demanded, panic coming back.

"It turns the program back on itself, kinda like a self destruct, but neater." Duo explained, sitting up and then pitching forward so that he was bent near in half, the pain in his back coming back as Duo strove to relax the muscles. "But I've never used it on a virus, so I don't know if it will stop at the virus or keep going into Port Security."

Heero stared at him, dumbfounded as to how he could just sit there, stretching, while a potentially stronger virus raged free in Port Security. "Stop it then!" Heero demanded.

"Can't." Duo simply said and sat up straight again. "Look Heero, I know it was a bad idea, but I didn't have anything else, and I'm not sacrificing my system for Port Security, I don't care how big or important they are. I can guarantee you it would be exponentially worse if my system went down while Port stayed up."

"Duo…" Heero started, a warning tone coming into his voice. Duo's face flashed up to his, anger clouding his eyes.

"Don't Heero, I know it looks bad, but I can't stop it now, so just forget it." Duo stared back at Heero, his eyes daring Heero to continue with what he was going to say. Heero finally looked away and dropped it.

"What do we do now?" Heero asked, praying that Duo's program stopped with the virus, he knew they couldn't trace the program back to him or Duo, but he felt infinitely worse for having had a part in it.

"Wait." Duo muttered and turned his chair back to his desk to watch the screen. Duo felt Heero movie behind him back into the extra chair and glanced out of the corner of his eye to see Heero fix his eyes on the computer screen with one hand covering his mouth. Duo sighed inwardly, he knew exactly how much Heero would hate this, hell, he hated it. The waiting was the worst part, whatever the outcome, he could deal, but the waiting strained his nerves and made him jumpy.

Duo watched the screen as the virus left inside Port Security began to work itself down, shrinking back along its path. Duo bit his thumb nail while Heero stared at the screen with him. What if his program didn't stop, what if he single handedly brought down Port Security? All shuttles off Earth would be stopped, as well as all shuttles between colonies. He knew that the whole system was monitored by Port employees on all the colonies and on Earth, but he was also sure that if his program didn't stop, they'd be powerless to stop it for hours, possibly days.

He'd created the program from a compilation of some of his own and an old OZ virus he'd stumbled across shortly after the war. It was designed to move, to eat, to hide and to learn. Duo tried to ignore the muscles in his stomach clenching and unclenching as he waited. If it all did go to hell…what was left?

The killer was currently on a shuttle somewhere, probably between colonies right now, maybe even docked just a few miles away. Duo's throat felt dry, what was left? There weren't many options left to them to figure all this out before the Bible Beater came knocking…

"It stopped." Duo jerked at the sound of Heero's voice.

"Wha…?" Duo's eyes came back into focus and he looked at the screen, it was back to Port Security video feed, but everything was mismatched and shut down. "Damn." Duo tried following a few feeds but found that only live feeds were working.

"It's been left in ruin." Heero confirmed, watching Duo poke around.

"Yeah, they're gonna have to fix everything now that the virus is gone. It could take days to recover the footage of him sending off that package!" Duo cursed the mess and then pulled out. Nothing left to do; nothing but sit and wait for either news to come to them or the killer. Nothing…except…

"Call Wu Fei." Duo ordered, searching his desk for his vid phone hook up.

"Why?" Heero asked as he looked up, he'd let his head fall back over the back of the chair in exasperation.

"I want to talk to that gang." Duo clicked the vid phone jack in and turned it on with a flick of a switch.

Duo stared back into the sullen eyes of a young girl, probably late teens. He'd have guessed early twenties if he hadn't known first hand just how the streets could wear on you. He'd already talked to the three guys, one of which had been the 'leader' and had gotten only insults and rude gestures. There were two girls who had been held separately, and after seeing them both Duo had asked Wu Fei to take one away and let him talk with this girl.

Her name was listed as Peregrine Brown, poor kid; Duo wondered what kind of parents named their kid Peregrine. She was insistent about being called Perry, and had her hair dyed dark green and shaved into a Mohawk. Yet, as intimidating as she tried to appear, tattoos, piercing, hair and cloths, her attitude didn't carry into her eyes.

Her hazel eyes were slightly haunted and there was a softness that the streets hadn't robbed from her. She seemed timid behind her rough exterior, and Duo recognized something in her that was more scared than angry. Her file told the story of loss at age nine and the shattered dreams of a budding musician.

"Perry," Duo strived for her attention again. She kept looking away, looking at Wu Fei. "He's not going to hurt you; we just need you to answer some questions for us." Duo tried to reassure her.

"Bull shit, he'd got a gun!" Perry accused.

"Perry, this is a highly tried Preventor agent and an ex Gundam pilot, if he wanted to kill you he really wouldn't need a gun." Duo explained, watching her eyes go wide and back to Wu Fei in haste. "But he doesn't want to kill you, and neither do I, we want your help."

"With the Bible Beater." She said it as a statement, not a question which told Duo she knew exactly why she was here and what they wanted from her.

"Yes, you know who he is, don't you." Duo smiled at her. She nodded but kept her mouth closed. "Will you tell me his name; maybe describe what he looks like so we can catch him?"

"I'm not a snitch! You're all big hot shot Gundam pilots, you find him yourself!"  
She snapped and flipped him off. Wu Fei shifted and Duo could tell he was losing patience. Perry's eyes flicked to Wu Fei, she could see it too, and Duo saw the quickest glimpse of fear in her before she smirked at him.

"Wu Fei?" Duo interrupted before Wu Fei could start yelling, "Can I talk to Perry alone?" Wu Fei looked back at him in surprise, skepticism paying over his harsh features; he glanced down at Perry and then, after a brief pause, nodded and left the room.

Duo turned off his computer and laid his head down, pushing his key board away to make room. He'd sent Heero away into the garage, but wasn't in a hurry to call him back just yet. The talk with Perry had exhausted him; his first intuition had turned out to be right. Perry was terrified that the bible beater would find out she'd snitched and come after her, kill her too.

Duo had spent half his time talking with her assuring her that she was safe in prison…imagine that…and that all the Preventors were going to protect her from the killer. The killer…he had information now, solid and real information. But what good would it do him?

Heero knocked on the window in the door that separated garage and office, Duo peeked out from his folded arms to see Heero's face turned down in a frown of concern, staring at him through the glass.

Duo wanted to laugh at the sight, of Heero watching him so intently through the glass, but couldn't seem to find it and just let it go. He sat up, running his hands down his face and nodded at Heero.

Duo started talking before Heero could, "R stands for Rann, Rann Kado. Ex member of a small time gang out for antiques and other valuables they could steal using the local newspaper. But Rann was a bit extreme in his endeavors and broke away from said gang when they were caught robbing one night. But he'd already been making plans, plans that needed the perfect disguise." Duo felt like his stomach was trying to turn in on itself, he was feeling a bit nauseous as he tried to get out the next words. "Perry says he was crazy, obsessed and mean. Obsessed with death of his girlfriend back in the war, that he wanted revenge and would do anything to get it."

"Girlfriend?" Heero asked, confused.

"Yeah, girlfriend, a girl named Oralia Stone, killed during the war during an attack on a military base on earth…" Duo looked sick and Heero stepped closer, ready in case Duo keeled over, which was looking more and more like a possibility, he was pale and clammy.

"Duo, what's wrong!?" Heero demanded, not liking where any of this was going.

"It's me, Heero, it's me he's after, I killed her! It was the last few months, the weapons base next to that little town…" Duo teetered on his chair for a moment and then got up and stumbled into the bathroom. Heero stood there, shock making his thoughts run round his head, making him dizzy. They'd all experienced this, the backlash from survivors of the war, families who had lost sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, children, lovers, wives, husbands…the list went on and on and the blame was so easily placed back on them.

Heero himself had been to a support group that was supposed to help, but every once in a while it would hit you again, someone who recognized you on the street. Sometimes it was a passing comment; sometimes they stood and yelled, blaming you for everything.

When each pilot had gotten a medal of honor there had been an uprising of people who had protested the honoring of terrorist, but nothing violent had ever really risen, no one had wanted revenge, or if they did, they were quickly found by the Preventor's themselves. This rocked Heero to his core that someone would go to this length for revenge.

Duo came back out, leaning against the door frame, water dripping from his face where he'd splashed it after he'd been sick. He stared back at Heero, eyes hollow, shoulders slumped, pale and worn and asked a question Heero hadn't been expecting.

"Where's Kitty?"

Kitty waved at Ember as she headed out the door, she was a little late, but she figured Duo wouldn't notice, what with Heero there and all. They hadn't even reopened yesterday, and there was a good chance they'd stay closed again today.

Kitty tossed her empty soda bottle in the trash can out side the door, she knew she shouldn't be drinking it this early, but it tasted better than coffee. She was about to turn left for the garage when she caught the anger curses of a tall man bending over his smoking car. She smirked and walked over, customer!

"Hey, you need help?" She asked and watched as he stood, his full height towering over her.

"Who are you?" He asked, his eyes startling green.

"I'm Kitty, I work at the garage just down the street!" Kitty smiled her best, I'm-so-helpful smile and saw comprehension dawn in his eyes.

"Oh, Great!" He smiled down at her.

"Yeah, I bet we could just push you, it isn't far." Kitty walked round the car to the driver's side to put in neutral.

"Actually, that won't be necessary." He said from behind her and Kitty had a brief moment to wonder how he'd gotten so close behind her without her noticing when she spotted the robes in the backseat. Then the smell of the car was overwhelming her and she was pitching forward into blackness.

Blood, everything smelled of Blood!


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, this is a Fan Fic!!!

Ok, so this is the beginning of the end! Find out the truth about Rann Kado!

Locked Doors

Part Nine: Real Fear

"I just got off the phone with Ember, she said Kitty left for work a little late, but that was hours ago." Duo tried not to listen to the panicked voice that was starting to rise in the back of his mind.

"It is only a short distance between here and the hotel…" Heero trialed off.

"She doesn't get distracted that easily…I usually have to pry her away from whatever it is she's doing…" Duo trialed off; he really didn't like where these pieces were falling. Duo stopped pacing the small office as he had started doing halfway through his conversation with Ember. He turned and walked straight out the door without even a glance over his shoulder at Heero, his thoughts churned as he started to walk to the hotel. His eyes darted around, looking here and there, down alleyways, under cars parked on the street, into the few stores and restaurants that stood between work and home.

Heero caught up with him, taking the time to grab Duo's keys and locking up the garage before following an anxious and apprehensive Duo down the street. He followed Duo, retracing the path of Duo's searching eyes with his own, watching for Kitty's blonde ponytail, or her pale skin that she hid under the hoods of cars and dirtied with enough oil to run twelve cars.

But Kitty wasn't on the street, or in any of the shops or restaurants, she wasn't at the garage and she wasn't at the hotel. Duo went into the hotel and was instantly found by Ember Easton.

"Where is she!?" Ember demanded, Heero suspected she knew what was going on though Duo had not said that her lover had not shown up for work in their brief phone call.

"Ember, we need to see the security tapes from the front!" Duo didn't answer her question and that in itself was the answer. Ember's eyes seemed to widen even more and she looked as if her whole world had just stopped dead. Heero watched the two of them and felt that if their friendship were a living being he could reach out for a pulse and would find nothing beneath its cold and clammy skin.

Heero followed, aware that he was an interloper in this case, but he knew they'd be grateful for his help nonetheless. Ember led them past the front desk and into the hidden hallways, the inner workings of the hotel. The door that marked was Security was some what misleading, it seemed as if they would find a small room behind it, instead Ember lead them into a series of rooms that were big enough to rival Heero's suite.

There were several men and women back there, all wearing the same black uniform and most looked up when Ember came in with Duo and Heero behind her. Most went back to their work, but a few stopped what they were doing and one man in particular stood and walked to greet them.

"Miss Easton." He towered over her, and yet, her anger seemed to fill more of the rooms than anything else, her franticness was gone, replaced by order and authority.

"I have reason to believe that an abduction has taken place on my property, and I want to know how that is possible when I was sure you were all doing your jobs so well." Ember's voice rang heavy with sarcasm and malice. The people who had gone back to work all froze and though most eyes did not dare look up to stare at here, everyone's attention was on Ember.

"P-Pardon…" The man Heero assumed was in charge stuttered and cowered before Ember, though she was so much shorter than him.

"Get me the footage from the main entrance from this morning. Eight am till noon!" Ember ordered and Heero and Duo watched in amazement as everyone broke into movement at once.

A larger screen was brought up and one of the women began to file through footage from all cameras in the lobby and out in the front of the hotel.

"Ma'm, if I may, what are we looking for…" The big man trailed off, as if afraid of what Ember might do if provoked in the slightest.

"THAT!" Ember practically shouted as Kitty appeared on the screens walking through the lobby. The woman paused the footage and everyone stared at the screen. "That is what we are looking for Josh Keelen." Ember sneered at him.

Duo was sure that everyone who worked in the hotel knew exactly who Kitty was, even if they didn't know her personally. She was usually in the Garage or in the Hotel, she wasn't prone to club hopping anymore, so she was sure to have been seen around the hotel and recognized by the staff. Duo could see sweat popping out on Josh's face as he seemed to grasp the situation and he began to order people to watch different screens where Kitty could been seen at different angles as each camera saw her leaving for work.

Heero and Duo watched the silent footage of Kitty leaving the hotel, walking through the lobby with a can of soda. She walked out the door, paused to throw away her empty soda can, and took another step before pausing again.

Heero noticed that although Ember seemed to be the epitome of calm, her hand was gripped on the chair in front of her so that her knuckles were white and her fingernails were digging into the upholstered back.

Kitty turned to where they could see the bottom half of a car, it seemed to be in the middle of breaking down, and smoke was visible. But every screen showed the same thing, only parts of the car, and then only the bottom half. It was such that only Kitty's legs could be seen anymore.

One of the staff was going back over the footage to see when the car had pulled up. Meanwhile, Kitty was leaving the sight of the camera completely and Duo felt a jerk in his stomach as a small, almost inaudible sound left Ember's lips. There was a long stretch of footage when nothing happened and then the car pulled away, smoke gone and that was that.

"What Happened!?!" Ember demeaned, turned on her staff with fury. They all seemed to scramble, trying to come up with an answer.

Duo walked quietly over to one of the women watching footage and Heero followed, leaving Ember to yell at Josh who only got clumsy as Ember got louder.

"Hey, what's your name?" Duo asked a woman with short bleached hair.

"Tristan." She answered, distracted from her footage which only showed another unhelpful angle of the car. They couldn't even seem to get a shot of the license plate. This was brooding more and more as a set up.

"Hey, Tristan, can I use your computer?" Duo asked, Heero looked at Duo's face in surprise, he recognized that voice! Duo's face had slipped from worry to carefree. His voice implied that there was nothing wrong whatsoever, that the world was simply playing a big joke and he was in on it.

"Uh…sure…" Tristan seemed hesitant, but could find no reason to say no to Duo. She pointed over to an empty desk nearby. "That one's mine, I'm already logged on…what do you need?" The question seemed to have suddenly come to her.

"Oh, I was just going to use your internet real quick, I have to check on something…" Duo trialed off as he turned and started walking to her work station. "Thanks." He called over his shoulder and Heero quickly followed him.

"What did you think of?" Heero asked as Duo swiveled the chair around to face the computer and he quickly brought up her connection.

"Ember's isn't the only place that has cameras!" Duo quickly did a search on the other business that was right across the street. He started with the one directly across from the hotel, but their cameras weren't looking at the hotel, they stopped when the sidewalk did. "Damn." Duo muttered and moved on.

He tried one next to that and got the same results. "Damn." He said with more feeling. Heero looked over his shoulder, Ember was still trying to get Josh to start making calls and Josh was insisting that there was no one to call. They hadn't been noticed yet, Heero just hoped Duo was covering his tracks, because what he was doing was decidedly illegal.

"HERE!" Duo cried out triumphantly, He had pulled up footage from someone right next door, a little bakery that surprisingly good cameras installed and one just happened to see everything.

Heero watched over Duo's shoulder as a man got out of his car after having pulled it up in front of the Hotel, his parking was very precise and he looked around as he popped his hood. He stood bent over the engine and then it started to smoke. The Bible Beater, had to be. Close than they'd thought. He looked young, not much older than them, taller, but roughly the same age.

Kitty came out the front doors and paused, seeing him.

"No…Don't do it!" Duo whispered to the screen, though they both knew what was about to happen. "Take a closer look! He's so obvious!" It was true too, he might have looked no older than Heero or Duo, he was even dressed casually in jeans and a shirt, but there was something about him that screamed. Something said very clearly that he was not what he appeared to be.

But, Kitty began talking to him, Duo could read her lips as she introduced herself and went around to get in the drivers side. What she didn't seem to notice was the way he stepped right behind her, shadowing her. He was inches behind her as she leaned into the drivers' side of the car and then he bent over here. There was a quick movement that jerked her body, but all they saw was her lower half, the rest of her was blocked by the man, and then he was pushing her into the car, into the passenger seat. He calmly got in after her and drove away.

"Can you get a close up of his face?" Ember asked from right next to Heero who had to force himself not to jump. Duo just started doing what she asked. "And the license plate?" He pulled up another window.

Everyone else in the room was watching from a little ways away, waiting for orders as Ember directed Duo. Heero pulled out his palm and began to take quick notes to send to Wu Fei.

"Perfect…Josh!" Ember yelled over her shoulder and the man was quick to jump. "We've got what we need, put in the call."

The rooms turned to chaos around them. Ember pulled out her own palm and handed it to Duo who started to take down information just like Heero was. Heero walked out into the hall to put out a call to Wu Fei where it was quiet.

"I need to talk to you." Ember hissed in Duo's ear after Heero had disappeared and turned to give Josh more orders.

Duo took down what he needed and started to access maps on the palm as he walked out the door after Heero and Ember followed.

They were standing just outside the door marked Security when Ember rounded on them. "I Need Her Back!" Ember's voice had gone from loud and authoritive to soft and dangerous. Heero and Duo instantly focused all their attention on the woman. Her hair was coming lose around her face and her eyes had gone to angry slits. Her fists were balled at her sides where her nails were cutting into the skin of her palm. Everything about her suddenly screamed danger.

Heero felt his mind snap right into the war, she suddenly wasn't the owner of The Hotel Lin, she was suddenly Ember Easton and Heero realized he really didn't know anything about her.

"Ember, relax, we've got his plate now, the police can…" Duo started

"NO!" Ember interrupted him. "The police will do Shit! They're good for traffic tickets and Port violations, this is the war." Ember got right up in their faces. "I don't care what shit is going on between you two, you're both Gundam Pilots! You're going to get her back or I'm going to show you exactly how I survived the war!"

Heero didn't like being threatened, he had a strong urge to hit Ember, to yell back at her, to walk out right then and there, but Duo beat him to it.

"Ember," The gentleness in his voice surprised him; Heero had never heard him talk like that. "Don't worry, we'll get her back." Heero was about to point out that he had no obligation here, but Ember's body went limp before them and she slumped against the wall.

Duo reached out and pulled her into a hug and Ember clung to him desperately. Heero felt like he shouldn't be there, like somehow he was watching something more intimate than a hug. He waited while Ember collected herself. Before she let go of Duo, turned and went back into the room, she whispered two words to him.

"Thank You."

Duo turned on Heero as the Security door closed behind Ember. Heero waited for him to say something. But Duo just looked at him, as if trying to figure something out.

"What?" Heero finally asked.

"Are you going to help?" Duo asked. He looked darker than Heero ever remembered him looking after the end of the War.

"Duo, we have to leave this to…" Duo let out a sound of disgust, cutting Heero off.

"So that's a no." Duo turned and started walking away.

"Duo! You're not a Preventor agent." Heero walked after him, reaching out to grab his arm.

Duo jerked out of his grip, "You are, what's your point!?" Duo demanded.

"You're not a cop. You're not a detective, the war is over!" Heero wanted to reach out and shake him senseless, "You can't just run out and start shooting. You don't have the authority to save her."

"Fuck you Heero." Duo spat back, he couldn't believe what he was hearing coming out of Heero's mouth. He knew Heero was a play the rules by the book kinda guy, but he would never have expected this! "I don't need authority to save my friends!"

"Duo, I want Kitty safe just as much as you do, but…" Heero tried to keep Duo there with him, tried to will him to see reason, but Duo's eyes only got harder by the moment.

"No you don't Heero, no you don't." Duo looked at him like he'd never really seen him before. "If you did you wouldn't be trying to talk me out of this."

"Duo, look, I'm sorry, I know I have no right, but…" Heero tried to get around to block Duo's path, but Duo suddenly lashed out and Heero found himself sitting in the middle of the hall and blood began to trickled down over his lips. Duo had hit him.

"You're right Heero, you don't have the right. You don't even know your own feelings, how could you know mine." Duo stepped around him and walked down the hall, out of sight.

Heero sat there, stunned. He reached up and touched the blood coming steadily out of his nose. He didn't even really feel it, but his insides felt raw. Heero used the wall to get to his feet and looked around as if expecting something else to happen. But when it didn't he just felt empty.

Duo ran to his garage, he kept his weapons there, hidden. He would never compromise Ember and Kitty by keeping them at the hotel. He only had the gun he always had with him there. This was where he kept the big guns.

Duo grabbed three guns, extra ammo, a jacket to cover it all and the palm Ember had given him. He used his computer to quickly track down the rental car using the sites tracking system and then left.

Duo had a small car, a two seater that was low to the ground and always seemed to be going faster than it actually was. He zoomed in and out of traffic; the rental that the Bible Beater was using was heading away to the storage area used for the big vehicles used on the colony. Construction vehicles like cranes were kept there while they weren't being used. Duo knew it well; he'd been there before when he and Kitty had first started the business. The Garage had been bigger than it needed to be; they'd knocked down the back half and sold the extra land. The extra money had been just what they needed to get missing equipment and their dealings with Construction had meant that they now came to Duo to fix said cranes and caterpillars whenever something broke down.

Duo had friends now, poker buddies who loved it when he brought Kitty along who could play and swear with the best of them. This maniac was taking Kitty to the Storage like someone takes a pig to a slaughter house. Duo's imagination went into overdrive; there were way too many ways to hurt someone in that place!

Duo drove faster, preying that some well meaning cop wasn't out with his radar gun. He raced a yellow light and finally entered the storage distract where all the buildings turned into hangers and what looked like warehouses. Duo pulled over next to a wall and pulled up the tracking system on Ember's palm. The car was a little moving dot somewhere ahead of him. He watched it work its way towards the center of the Storage distract and then turn right. It kept going until it was near the edge and Duo wondered why he hadn't just come in from the right but then dove in after him.

Duo parked the car two buildings away, sure that he couldn't have heard the approach and got out. He pocketed the palm and pulled out a hand gun, safety off and pointed up. He started to make his approach, sideling up along side the building, creeping, listening for any sound. He was halfway there; careful to avoid anything that might stir beneath his boots. Yet, he was very aware of how little cover he had. All he could really do was press himself as close to the building as he could and hope that the Bible Beater didn't come walking out. Or, if he did, that he would be stupid and not expect anyone to be there. Duo was sure he could catch him off guard, that he could catch this mad man unawares.

Duo started down the last few yards, he could see the car parked like his, up along side a building near a door that lead inside. A small door next to a garage door that opened up instead of out or in. There were only a few windows and they all stood dark and empty, staring out like empty eyes.

Duo crept closer, his gun coming down, sweeping around and searching for a target. He felt his heart thudding at several pulse points along his body, filling his ears as the silence pressed in around him. He swallowed his throat dry with anticipation. His arm was stead and his stance was balanced when the door across from him instead of the one in front of him slammed open and a tall man stepped out with a gun raised, pointed at Duo.

"Shit!" Duo cursed and started running back the way he came. He heard the gun shot and felt his whole body jerk and go down. He shoved out his left arm to catch his weight and turn it into a roll. He came back to his feet and spared a glance to his right shoulder. It was a mess, torn cloths, torn flesh and blood spreading quickly.

He felt the pain now that he'd seen it, it laced through him like fire, burning and screaming as he tried to keep moving. He raised it under protest and fired shot back, keeping the man from hitting him again.

"Did you think I wouldn't know you were coming Duo!?" The man yelled after him as Duo fell around a corner and stopped. His breathing was ragged and his vision was blurry with pain. Duo cursed again under his breath and reloaded his gun with some difficulty.

"I've been watching you Duo, did you think I wouldn't know what you would do? How you would track the car, how you would come here to rescue your friend, alone?" The Bible Beater, Duo decided, was a presumptuous asshole.

"Fuck You!" Duo threw back at him.

"Oh, but you did!" The man laughed and Duo paled, listening to that voice, tried to lean forward to peek around that corner to get a good look at this guy. But Heero stopped him.

Duo did a double take as adrenalin pumped through his system again at the shock of Heero suddenly being there. He faintly wondered if one could overdose on adrenalin, but then turned his attention back to Heero.

"I know you haven't gone far, not what that shot you took." The Bible Beater called out, though not knowing he was now talking to two. "Come back here, I'll let Kitty leave in your car if you'll take her place."

"Bull shit!" Duo yelled back, "You're not planning on letting either of us go!"

"Oh but I was, but not for much longer." Duo tried to keep his eyes focused on Heero. "Your stubbornness is going to get her killed Duo." The man yelled, Duo could hear anger rising in his voice.

"No, you putting a bullet in her is going to get her killed." Duo really wanted to run around the corner and shoot this guy in the head, but he knew Heero wouldn't let him. He might have pulled it off, if only he could get to his feet!

"Come on Duo, it's never been games between us, you know I would never lie to you." Duo felt confusion washing over him, was it just him that was hearing this!? He looked at Heero, saw the same confusion there and knew it wasn't just him. That was reassuring, but what was this guy talking about.

"Oh, please tell me that you've recognized my voice by now!" The man laughed, "I could understand you not recognizing me right away, I've had some work done, but you should at least know my voice, Little Shinigamii."

Duo did know that voice, but from where…it was so clear, so familiar, it had been since he'd first heard it. A nagging feeling at the back of his mind, trying to push forward. But who was it…

"We were so good together, but you couldn't see that, you were so blinded by your past you couldn't see what was right in front of you!" Heero was now watching him instead of the corner that separated them. "You still loved Heero, even though you knew he would never love you back."

"Who are you?!" Duo demanded.

"So I let you go, figured you'd come back when you finally realized that it was I who loved you, not him." Duo felt a coldness rush though him. He'd been thinking back, right after he'd left Heero and Earth, before he'd fallen in with Ember and Kitty, he'd been drifting. Floating through life. Trying to figure out where he'd gone wrong. He'd gone through a few bad dates, made a few bad choices, but one stood out as his worst and that was…

"Lawrence!" Duo yelled it, meeting Heero's eyes and feeling the dread filling him.

"It's Rann now Duo, Rann Kado. A name I only used During the War, but you've forced me to this. I was content to let you go Duo, you almost got off scott free, but I figured it out Duo. I know the truth. Did you think I wouldn't Find OUT!?" His voice grew louder until he was screaming.

"Find out what!?" Duo yelled back, now he was really confused. Lawrence had just been a mistake, the beginning of something he could have regretted so much more if he hadn't gotten out when he did.

"You're sick, you know that. Sick. Just a terrorist. They were right when they said you should all be put down. But I didn't believe them; I thought you were just like me. Just trying to survive the war. But I underestimated you Duo, You're a Sick Bastard."

"What The Hell are you going on about!?" Duo did look around the corner that time, finally staring back at eyes he had once turned to for comfort. A face that was a mere shadow of something once familiar, no longer.

And Rann stared back with nothing but rage and madness filling him. "It was you, all this time it was you!" He screamed and pointed the gun at Duo, aiming right between his violet eyes. "You Killed Orion!!!"


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, this is a Fan Fic!!!

OMFG! It's the last chapter of LD!!! AGAIN!!!! Sorry for my mistake the first time. Hopefully this is better! I think it's fixed, if you see anything still wrong, tell me! But none of that misspellings and grammar stuff, I already know about that and you'll just have to deal. Warning: Torture, violence, death, male/male sex

Locked Doors

Part Ten: Forgive Me

Heero had no choice but to grab hold of Duo's wounded shoulder and pull him back as Lawrence/Rann squeezed his trigger with Duo still staring back at him in confusion. Duo let out a sharp hiss of pain but let Heero shove him back behind him, taking his place at point, unable to really fight him with his right arm immobile.

"You killed my Orion then you tracked me down and made me love you! Was that your fucking plan the whole time Duo!? Did it get you off, knowing you had me all to yourself now that Orion was dead?!" Rann kept firing at their corner till his gun clicked empty, then he emptied another magazine shooting at them, thought he thought only Duo was there. His shots were starting to make bigger holes in the building they were hiding behind.

Heero moved Duo further back, but when he went down on his stomach to avoid the holes and Rann's shooting Duo moved right back, changing gun hands. He wasn't as good a shot with his left, but he wasn't bad either. Heero was lined up for the shot, but didn't take it, which might have had something to do with the fact that Rann had started firing again.

"You Fucking Asshole! Get your ass out here!" Rann yelled at him as his bullets kept missing everything but warehouse wall.

"Yeah, I'm really going to come out with you firing everything that's _not_ moving!" Duo yelled back, noticing for the first time that he was losing blood when the effort made him a little dizzy.

The firing instantly stopped Duo froze, was that his cue? Did Lawrence…Rann really think he was just going to walk out and let himself be shoot!?

"Why did you kill him!? He wasn't doing anything? He was just doing his job, trying to survive the war just like the rest of us!" Rann yelled and Duo found himself still fighting to understand where Rann was leading this conversation. "Was it because we were so happy, that we found love even during a war while your Heero just kept going, never stopping once to even glance in your direction!? Is that what it was!? And then when you got rejected after the war you went looking for that happiness! I've got it right, don't I!?" Rann couldn't seem to stop his mouth, all his thoughts were pouring out of his mouth before they were even fully formed. He truly was psychotic, forming half truths and intricate plots in his mind to explain how something as simple as a death during the war had happened.

"But I'm going to get mine, don't you worry! Let's see how you like it when someone you love dies!" And then his voice was gone as well as the shooting and Duo heard a window opening.

"Can you hear me you fucker? You still there, still waiting to see if there's a reason you came all the way out here?!" Rann's voice was cruel and pitched to a degree that showed just how stressed he was.

"Lawrence listen to me…" Duo started, but Rann yelled back at him.

"Rann! It's Rann! Get it right!" Duo wondered if he was anything like this during the war, while Shinigamii had ruled him, allowing him to kill, to go into every mission as if it were his last.

"Rann then, I know what's it like to lose a loved one, I've been there! Can't we just talk about this; I don't even remember killing someone named Orion!" Duo wondered about that as soon as the words left his mouth…had that been the right thing to say? Apparently it hadn't been.

"Fuck You Duo Maxwell! You remember, I know you do! How could you not! He was so beautiful! Just had to get rid of him didn't you! You have no idea how much I've suffered, you couldn't even begin to imagine what I've been through!" Rann screamed at him, his sanity long gone and his voice ragged as emotion boiled through him.

But that last comment had made Duo angry, if there was something he wouldn't abide by, it was people who imagined their lives to be so terrible when there were millions out there far worse off.

"Fuck you right back _Lawrence_!" Duo stretched out his name, making sure to use it, ignoring Heero's mad gestures. "You think you're the only one who ever shed a tear!? Ever hear of the Maxwell Church Massacre!? I didn't even have a name before that! I was just another nameless orphan! There were hundreds of us!" Duo cursed him again and again in his mind; Kitty was somewhere in there with this maniac! And every second they wasted with this was one more with her in danger. He wouldn't even let his thoughts drift farther than that. Wouldn't consider any other possibilities.

"Shut Up! Just Fucking Shut Up!" Rann yelled back at him and Duo could tell he'd struck a nerve, psychos like this usually didn't like you proving them wrong, destroying the illusion they'd set up for themselves. He'd dealt with more than one during the war and had dislodged many this way, but he also remembered the few who'd flipped out in the other direction, taking his words and using them to fuel their psychosis even further.

It's was Kitty's scream that broke the following silence and successfully cutting off any thought that had been about to enter Duo's mind. She was alive, that was his first thought, his second was, but for how long? And in what condition?

Kitty could curse a mean streak down to hell and back, she knew curses in several languages too and had no problem with sharing her knowledge no matter who was around. Duo had heard her often enough in the garage as she did this or that and it went wrong, causing her to lose skin or even nails to the cause.

But he'd never heard her at a loss for those words, never heard her abandon her very large vocabulary and just scream, not even when they'd first met and she'd taken a full hit of hot oil to the eyes, and that was what made him stop his breathing and his heart thud hard against his chest, fighting to get out. He held his breath until he heard Rann again.

"There you go Duo, your trip wasn't in vain, Miss Kitty is still here with us, and has quite powerful lungs." He laughed and it took all Duo had and a hand from Heero to keep him where he was.

"She better be in one piece Lawrence or I'm going to fucking pull out your entrails and feed them to you before I let you die!" Duo cursed him, perfectly ok with his well thought out threat, and willing to back it one hundred percent.

"Well then, I guess I'll be having a very filling dinner tonight, if you ever get the balls to come out from around your corner Duo." Rann sneered back and Duo felt the bottom of his stomach drop out at the implication.

"Don't listen to him Duo, I'm fine!" Kitty's voice was a gift of sanity, Duo had just been holding the last threads of his mind together when her voice broke through and he felt something new bloom in his chest.

"Shut up you stupid bitch!" Rann yelled back at her and Duo listened to the dull thud as he hit her. It was all sound but it was almost as if Duo could see it before his eyes and the protective and determined swell inside him was mixed with raw hatred. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt this bloodlust, the last time he'd wanted to hurt someone so much. It was Heero's touch that cooled him, forced a deadly calm on him. Heero helped him focused and they started to have a very short conversation that was made up of simple hand gestures.

In the end, Heero left Duo, albeit reluctantly, to circle around the other way as fast as he could to come up on Rann's hold from the side. A look around the complex had shown that most of the buildings had three, if not four entrances, one on each side to make things less of a hassle. And it was up to Duo to wait for him to be in position, keeping Rann talking, before they moved together.

"What did you do to her!?" Duo didn't really want to know, was more than willing to wait to find out on his own when he had her far from this place, and he would, but right then he needed a self absorbed, self righteous monologue to occupy Rann while Heero circled.

"You've lost your star mechanic Duo; Kitty won't be fixing anything ever again! If you want to hurt someone, you either take their livelihood or their loved ones. In your case it's your loved ones, in Kitty's case, it's her livelihood. You can't fix cars if you don't have fingers to fix them with!!!" Rann was talking out his open window as Kitty started to scream again but fought to cut herself off.

More than anything, Duo knew how much Kitty loved her job, all that her father had taught her, she had built on. She was a genius with an engine and for all her mistakes and joking, she had a near flawless record. That he would take that away from her showed Duo that not only was he psycho, he was smart and a smart killer with a psychosis was much more dangerous than just your average psycho.

Duo wanted more than anything to get his hands on Rann, to erase him from existence, to go back in time and erase him from there to, from ever having been in his life for even a moment. But, people suffering from psychosis were unpredictable, add smart to that mix and Duo was just going to have to wait for Heero to get the advantage on this guy.

"If only you'd just left me and Orion alone, everything wouldn't have turned out this way, hell, if you'd just left me alone! But you couldn't help yourself could you Duo, if you're miserable you have to bring everyone around you down with you. Can't leave well enough along, Can't let someone else have love when you can't!" Rann started yelling again and started taking pot shots at Duo's hiding place again. Only this time they were one at a time, up and down, side to side, searching for him behind the wall.

Duo counted down in his head and started to stand up as he hit the minute mark. Heero should be there now, would wait to give Duo time to get to his feet and then they would move and this would finally be over! Adrenalin started to pump through him in anticipation of what was about to happen. He just hoped Ember would forgive him if he brought Kitty home somewhat less than whole.

"He was so beautiful…" Rann started to carry on again. "Black hair down his neck, soft and gentle, bright grey eyes, hard and fierce. Short, but so cute, so alive. He was ready to do what it took to win the war too! He made these bullets I'm using now you know; these are the last ones he ever made before you showed up and put a bullet through him!" Duo staggered and stopped, knowing he needed to move soon, but the memory battered him, threw him as it danced before him. It grasped hold of him and started choking him.

It had been towards the end, he'd taken down a silent operation, some arms dealer selling to OZ, selling shit no one had ever seen before, dangerous shit. Weapons that killed in nasty ways, weapons and guns that were made to inflict pain and kill slowly. Weapons that OZ was going to use on civilians!

He'd gone after them with Trowa, the two of them had lain the place to wreck, had seen it destroyed very thoroughly. Left it gutted and wasted like a corpse. And Duo had been running through, killing as many as he could, making sure no one survived to spread this kind of information again, to make sure nothing like this sprung up again elsewhere, faster and smarter and harder to take down. He had been determined to get this all done in one fell swoop!

He'd shot a kid at one point, one with black hair that fell around his ears and neck and into his eyes where it dusted Grey Orbs that glowed with fear and regret. He'd started to beg Duo, started to ask for his life, started to tell Duo how he'd been forced to work here. How it wasn't his fault. And it probably hadn't been, but Duo couldn't afford to believe him. He'd shot him and moved on, joined back up with Trowa and disappeared into the darkness.

Rann was right; he had killed this Orion, if that's what that kids name had been. But it was pure serendipity that had landed him in a relationship with Orion's lover long after the war. But the shock of the whole thing, the pure chance, left him reeling, gasping for air when he should have been getting into position.

"Oh Shit." Duo said with feeling. And he got a laugh out of Rann.

"Oh, now you remember! Now you know what I know; now you know your deed. You cruel fucking SOB! Motherless bastard! You killed him, now you're going to kill me!" Rann took a few shots while talking. "Tell me, when are you planning on killing Ember and Kitty, huh? They're happy, they found love! They fucking rub it in your face everyday!"

"Duo isn't that vindictive you asshole, you are!" Kitty's voice broke his, and Duo could only listen as she got hit again. Not yet, just a few more seconds…wasn't it? Just a little longer…was he going to kill her? Would she be dead before he got there? Another life on his hands, more blood.

"You hurt everyone you get close too, have to make sure everyone is as miserable as you are or dead! What about Heero, Duo? Got his death all planned out?"

"DUO!" Heero's voice snapped him back to reality, back from his thoughts, back from that small suicide, that inner demon he'd been about to set lose. And Duo started running for that closed door, that open window where Rann wasn't facing him anymore.

"What the Fuck!?" Rann was turned away, watching Heero who'd just come in the side door and Duo could have shot him right then, taken him down from behind, shot him in the back of the head. But he hesitated and Rann turned to see him standing there.

Rann got off a few shots, wildly, but ultimately moved away from the door and window, back towards some boxes for cover and Duo ran for the door, keeping low. He'd hesitated to kill, Rann's little speech had gotten to him and he couldn't afford that! Duo opened the door and slipped in, instantly taking the first cover he could, a tar mixer.

He looked around, found Heero hidden on the other side of a workbench and then he saw Kitty. So much blood! That bright candy red that was already drying and going brown. Duo pushed his thoughts away and tired to focus on her condition. She was tied to the workbench Heero was hiding behind. No doubt he was working his way around to get her free of it.

Duo tried not to think of how many fingers would stay behind, lying on that workbench among the readily available tools. But his thoughts were dancing around, unbidden and feral in their clamor. Instead, he whipped away from the two of them and looked back to where he'd seen Rann disappear through the window.

The warehouse was ripe with boxes, of all shapes and sizes, and not just boxes, but crates too, the kind made out of wood that were denser and took bullets better. Duo cursed those boxes silently as he slowed his breathing, trying to hear past Kitty's ragged breath, trying not to notice how much it belied her pain. He already knew Heero would slow his breathing, that kind of reaction just came natural, without a thought, when you shared a past like they did.

And that was how Duo was able to catch Rann's breathing, his shifting as he moved around behind his little fort of boxes. He was desperate now, Duo and Heero had invaded his citadel, and his determined and righteous mission was fading, crumbling with the threat of two Gundam pilots suddenly after his blood and damn close to getting it.

"Rann, it's time to give it up. Just stop. It's over." Duo kept an eye on Heero and Kitty out of the corner of his eye as he started to creep out from behind his own hiding place and move towards Rann's against his better judgment. But Heero wasn't here to stop him this time; he was busy fighting with Kitty's bindings, struggling to get her free from whatever Rann had used to tie her to the workbench.

"NO! Shut up! This isn't over!" Duo froze at his words, he was halfway there, he was crouched, one foot stretched out to take another step closer, exposed with no cover. And from the sound of Rann's voice, he was at that point where desperation left reason and rational thinking behind.

Duo looked up as Rann's movement drew his eyes to where he'd stood up over the boxes and aimed down his gun at the first target he saw. It wasn't Duo.

It was Heero and Kitty, still fighting with packing tape that kept Kitty tied to the spot with thread running through the tape and making it stronger, impossible to rip. Both of them looked up as Rann appeared and Heero's gun wasn't raised, wasn't in either of his hands and Duo knew they were both about to die.

He didn't think twice, all thoughts of Orion and Lawrence left him as he took his shot. He watched Rann's head get hit from the right and then the left side of his face was just gone. Only a bloody mass that resembled raw hamburger was left and then he was falling backwards out of sight.

Everything had lead up to that moment and now it was just over. The whole thing was surreal, even as Kitty was yelling at him, yelling at Heero to get her free, yelling at him some more. Even as he stood there and kept his gun out, despite the knowledge that Rann…no…Lawrence would never get up again. It just didn't feel like he'd just killed someone. Not like it used to, not the self-satisfaction that someone bad was gone from the world, not that guilt that followed the killing and the bloodlust. There was nothing, no guilt, no anger, and no sadness, just a big void of nothing.

And then Kitty was in his face, she was almost even with him in height, so suddenly having the crying, angry, scared, yelling blonde in his vision was startling. She took up his whole field of vision and grabbed at him, even through the pain, trying to get him to say something, trying to make sure he was ok, and that was what finally brought him back to himself.

"Fuck!" He cursed; he looked down at her hands, her hands that were missing fingers…both pinkies and the ring finger on her right hand. Duo was instantly nauseous, not that he hadn't seen injuries like this before, hell, he'd deffinantly seen worse in the war, but these were Kitty's hands…

"HEERO!" Heero was instantly there, and Duo finally realized he had his cell phone out and was talking to someone very rapidly, though he couldn't have told you what Heero was saying, everything was sort of out of focus at the moment. All he could really see at that moment was Kitty's blood everywhere, the missing fingers. He knew that this moment right here, these last few minutes would haunt his dreams and even his waking hours for the rest of his life.

That he hadn't been in time to save Kitty's fingers, that he'd had to shoot Lawrence, that he'd let Heero and Wu Fei down with their investigation. How was it that he hadn't figured out what was going on earlier at all?! The pieces were all there now for him to see.

It was all almost unbearable…but he had no time for any of this. If war time triage had taught him anything it was that lives were lost on the battlefield when luxuries like hospitals and painkillers weren't available, and this was no battlefield! Kitty stood a chance of at least having her fingers back in place, if not some use of them, but that chance lessened the longer they stood there.

Heero's phone snapped shut and Duo looked to him for the next move, it just came natural, from their time together on missions so often, Heero was always in charge unless they were dabbling in Duo's forte. Heero apparently, had already thought everything out ahead of time while Duo was still stuck somewhere around the time where he'd had to shoot Lawrence.

"The police are on their way, get Kitty in your car, I'll bring these," He gestured to her severed fingers, "And call Ember to meet us at the hospital. We'll have to give statements and reports later, but in the light of Kitty's wounds, they're letting us take her to the hospital as long as we stay there until they arrive."

Duo nodded rapidly and settled his arm around Kitty's waist, never mind that she was upset and touchy, at that moment he needed to reassure himself that she was still there, still more or less whole and unharmed, and though her tears were silent, he suspected she needed at least some comfort until he could deliver her into the arms of her lover.

So Heero drove and spoke to Ember while Duo kept hold of Kitty in the back seat, keeping her calm and trying to distract her from the pain. Kitty, though crying and letting out a whimper now and then, was doing really well despite her situation. She didn't complain about the pain nor did she sob, she just sat there, holding her hands above her heart as best she could to lessen the blood pressure.

Heero wasn't driving erratically, but he did seem to be setting aside the speed limit for one that more suited his needs. He didn't weave but he also never got caught at a red light or behind someone driving slowly for more than a few seconds. He kept glancing in the rearview mirror, as worried about Duo as he was about Kitty. He liked Kitty, he liked Ember too, the two women were strong and in such a loving relationship, he couldn't think of a reason why anyone wouldn't like them.

But right then, Duo wasn't looking so good either. Facts kept rushing to the front of his brain as Heero drove. They hadn't eaten, hadn't slept well, and had been under almost constant stress all day, not to mention the whole ordeal looked to be wearing Duo's reserves down, making him pale and shaky even as he kept control over his emotions. Then there was the gun shot through his shoulder. The blood loss. Everything building up inside of him was finding other outlets to escape through and that kept his heart rate up and blood pumping out of him. Heero was determined to be there when all this finally ended; he had an idea that Duo would need something stable to help him through the crash when all this finally ended. It was the least he could do after dragging all of them through this.

Duo might blame himself, it was just how his mind worked, but if Heero traced everything back it was truly his fault, entirely. It had been his want to see Duo that had truly started all of this; not the case, which he had tried to deceive himself into thinking. He could very well have solved this whole thing on his own. That wasn't pride but plain truth. He could have, yet it had been the perfect excuse to see Duo, to get one more chance to fix what he'd let go so wrong. Heero tore his attention back and forth between the rear view mirror and the road until they finally reached the hospital.

Heero pulled around to the ER where Ember and Josh were waiting for them. Ember's hair was half fallen out of her usual bun in a haphazard manner that belied her calm face and stance; As if she were simply waiting for the bus rather than the car with her injured lover. Yet even before the car was stopped, Ember had the door open and was pulling Kitty out of it and towards the hospital.

"Josh!" Heero called, and handed what Duo knew were Kitty's fingers over to the man who promptly followed the two women into the building. And for a brief moment, Duo knew he could wipe everything from his mind right then, if he just gave in he could let numbness wash over him and he could bask in blissful ignorance, just letting everything pass over him while Heero took the reins.

The offer his mind presented was so tempting…too tempting. He shoved those betraying thoughts away and started to just follow Kitty and Ember into the ER when Heero suddenly appeared at his side and got hold of him.

"Your shoulder." Heero reminded him and it was like the pain came rushing back from where it had been hiding inside of him. And then he was dizzy and falling forward. Heero caught him and was talking with someone while practically dragging him along.

Duo tried to think things through, tried to form a time line in his head from where he'd broken up with Lawrence, to when he'd meet Kitty and Ember, to when the first robberies and murders had taken place. Tried to give himself something to concentrate on and stay awake, but all the threads were fraying even more instead of falling into place. He knew it should all make sense, but all he kept thinking about were Kitty's fingers.

"Duo!?" Heero called him back from his thoughts as a nurse appeared to help him onto a gurney.

"Huh?" Duo whipped around, his eyes wide, his shoulders taut in readiness and his arms flexed in anticipation. It made him jerk in pain while someone was cutting his shirt off. Duo almost turned and broke someone's arm, but Heero was there again, taking point.

"Duo, stand down!" It was the only thing Heero could think of right then that might calm the ex pilot down. Duo flinched at the words and then some of the tension held between his shoulder blades started to ease out.

"Sorry." Duo mumbled and relaxed, letting a nurse finish getting his shirt off.

"You can't do anything for Kitty now. It's over." Heero reached out tentatively and grasped Duo's hand. Duo reflexively gripped his hand back, hard. His grip was desperate and Heero was silently glad he'd lost some of the feeling in his hands back during the war otherwise Duo's grip might actually hurt.

Heero gently rubbed his thumb over the back of Duo's hand in a comforting motion, hoping that some stability would at least get Duo thought the next few hours.

"It doesn't feel like it's over." Duo whispered, Heero had barely caught it, the noise of people talking around them almost drowned him out. But Heero heard it, opened his mouth to say something, and then a doctor was there telling him that he had to leave.

Heero gave Duo an apologetic look, want pulling at the edges of his eyes. Duo sighed heavily and nodded. Heero gave his hand one last squeeze and then let himself be ushered out of the room.

He found himself back in the waiting room with the too quiet TVs and the people who stared but didn't look at you. He stationed himself near the door and was trying to ease the tension in his body when his cell phone buzzed in his pocket causing him to jump. Heero looked down at his phone in annoyance only to fine Wu Fei's name on the little screen in front.

Heero realized he was probably keeping tabs on the police and Preventor agents here and had just found out what was going on.

Heero got up to take the call outside, hesitating for a moment and then going out the sliding doors to lean against the rails of the handicap ramp. He'd probably be there for hours before he even heard anything about either Duo or Kitty.

So Heero sorted through what Wu Fei knew from the police reporting back to him and filled in details. It felt so weird to be talking about events that had only happened less than a few hours ago. To be talking about Duo's injury when he was just not getting taken care of a few rooms away.

It was almost as if none of it had happened, as if Duo were sitting in his garage, eavesdropping on Heero as he talked to Wu Fei, trying to hear something about the case despite the fact that he was still so angry at Heero.

Heero hung up with Wu Fei and ran his hands through his hair, biting back his urge to force his way back to Duo's side. He was interrupted from his internal struggle when the police showed up.

Duo was given a local and then told to relax while a doctor patched him up. Easier said than done! Duo was so very anxious about everything right then. Everything felt so surreal and then too real all at once.

Things were either happening too fast or they weren't happening at all. Duo went over the past events in his head. He'd hit Heero, really let go and full out threw his fist into his face, laying him out. Heero had landed flat on his ass and as good as Heero had thought it would feel to hit him, to get back some of his own, to punish Heero for even thinking about leaving Kitty with that killer one more second…it had been empty. Even as he'd walked away from Heero, the same way he'd been left, he'd been so sorry. He'd wanted to run back and take it all back, to ask for forgiveness. To say he hadn't meant it.

His anger for Heero was just gone now. Just like everything else, he just felt so numb. He didn't feel remorse for having to kill Lawrence, but rather, remorse for not feeling remorse. He was scared for Kitty, but he felt so far away from that, not being able to do anything more for her. He was sorry for Ember, that he'd let down his guard and left Kitty to be taken in his place, that he'd had to return Kitty in pieces to her lover.

But they were all distant feelings, numb feelings, not all together there. He had to think too much to feel them and that wasn't right either.

"Duo?" Duo looked up in surprise at Heero standing in front of him, looking at him worriedly. Duo looked around for the doctor and found that he'd already been patched up and bandaged which meant he'd probably passed out at some point. Duo felt a blush wanting to creep up but the lack of blood made him dizzy with the effort.

"Huh?" Duo asked, knowing he had missed something from the look on Heero's face, almost as if Heero was trying not to spook some cornered animal, trying to coax it out of its corner.

"The police are here…" It wasn't a question or a statement, but a little bit of both and a prod. Duo looked past Heero to see the three uniformed men and one woman standing there, looking at him. He couldn't even begin to figure out the looks on their faces, so he didn't try. He just nodded and let the nurses take him to a spare bed in the ER where he could be hooked up to an IV and left with the police for questioning.

It was a little weird to be depending on Heero so much, but he knew he wasn't angry with Heero anymore, and even before that realization, Duo found that he'd always trusted Heero enough to know he would get his job done. That eventually this killer that eluded them would be caught…killed…and that life would be waiting at the end of the tunnel for him when…

That life would be waiting…

Duo stopped talking to the nice police man as he fully understood what it meant for Heero's case to be…over.

"He's gonna leave again…" Duo muttered. Staring past the man taking his statement to the flimsy curtains cutting him off from the rest of the ER in a mock attempt at privacy.

"I'm sorry, what was that Mr. Maxwell?" The man's use of his name snapped Duo back painfully.

"Uh…" Duo stuttered, "Oh, sorry, nothing. Where was I?" Duo stumbled through the rest of his statement, dealing out the facts of his ex-lovers death as quickly as he could. He told the officer how he'd found Kitty, how Heero had tried to help, how Lawrence…how Rann had been about to kill them both.

Duo shivered violently, but hid it as the officer, whatever his name was, finished and went to consult with his other officer buddies, still keeping him and Heero separated. Duo knew what was supposed to happen next, but with Kitty most likely knocked out from anesthesia in the middle of surgery, it was going to happen later rather than sooner.

Technically they could take both him and Heero down to the station, keep them separated until their story was proven true. Duo shivered at the thought, not liking how much all this was throwing him off. Not liking his sudden need for Heero, the need for his presence at least if he couldn't get physical contact.

Duo lay back and turned his head to the side, watching the small gap where the curtains didn't quite close, and staring at the shadows moving through the mesh up near the ceiling, keeping an eye out till someone came back to tell him something, anything.

He was surprised when Heero came through the curtain, his shoulders deflated in almost defeat, until he saw Duo laying on the bed, IV dangling from his arm and desperation on his face. Duo looked up, surprised and a little hopeful.

"I…uh…" Heero faltered and Duo took a few long seconds to marvel at the sound of Heero thrown off his game. "I have to file a report for all of this, send it back to Wu Fei…" He couldn't seem to see where to take things from there, but Duo really didn't need more of an explanation. Heero had thrown around his badge, being a Preventor meant that he was on the same level, if not one up on the police.

Duo nodded, letting Heero know he got what was going on. They weren't going to be carted down to the station after all; they were off the suspects list. In fact, once Heero filled his report the case would probably be closed and stored away. Even as they stood there, unwilling to fill the silence, the authorities were probably announcing to the press that the Bible Beater was dead. That everything was ok now.

Heero stared at Duo, trying to gauge what was going on behind his too wide violet eyes. Duo was raw right now, every thought he had was hidden behind some kind of mask that only showed a blank awareness of what was going on around him. It worried him, worried him in a way he was only beginning to understand.

He'd known he loved Duo, for a long time now it had plagued him, knowing that what he'd done had been cruel and a lie. Knowing that he'd hurt Duo so badly had weighed down on him so long. But what he hadn't known, what being so close to Duo had shown him, was the depth of that love.

Seeing him in such danger, willingly throwing himself into it for the love of a family he'd made for himself away from the rest of the pilots…it brought that love into the light and made a mockery of Heero's understating of it. Even now, he was fighting back an urge so deep to simply gather Duo in his arms and walk away it was almost terrifying. Walk straight to the nearest shuttle and leave for earth and never look back, Duo's protests, and he would have them, be damned.

Heero was trying to find something to say, something that would make this alright while simultaneously fighting that urge to hold Duo when a young woman parted the curtains and cleared her throat. "Um, sorry, but your friend just got out of Surgery and…"

Duo sat up and probably would have tried to stand if Heero hadn't been there to hold him down while Ember was lead to them.

"Is she…?" Duo started to ask. Ember gave him a sad smile coming though the curtains.

"She's ok." Ember gave him a sad smile. She down at him and gathered him into a hug, careful of his shoulder. Duo's shoulders slumped and he hugged her tightly back. "They're…they reattached her fingers." Ember swallowed hard and Duo held her tighter while Heero stood there, awkwardly trying to find somewhere to look. "They don't know…" Ember stumbled on the words, took a breath and started talking again, "They don't know if she'll ever have full use of them again, but we're hopeful."

Duo nodded and breathed in the smell of Ember, it calmed him a little, sense memory allowing him to think of when they all used to live together. If anyone could over come this, it was Kitty.

Heero felt the need to be somewhere else at that moment. He remembered when he used to feel this way all the time, but right then it wasn't because he felt he didn't fit in, it was more that he felt as if he wasn't needed, as if he were impeding on something personal.

He had no warning when Ember suddenly came and threw her arms around him since he'd been looking away. But he suddenly found himself being held as tightly as Duo had just been, with the wetness of Ember's tears soaking into his shirt.

"Thank you." Ember whispered into his shoulder. Heero looked up to find Duo's small smile and his eyes sparkling with unshed tears. "You got her back to me…you saved her!"

Heero suddenly felt a plunging feeling in his stomach. He didn't deserve this thank you, he hadn't brought Kitty back safely, she was less than whole; she was Missing Fingers! It had taken Duo's hitting him to get him in gear!

Heero looked at Duo over Ember's head and saw Duo's eyes widen. It was written all over his face, the sudden anguish that was taking him over, his breath quickened and he needed Ember not to be touching him right then, not to be thanking him.

Duo seemed to understand what Heero was trying to convey to him, he reached out and took Ember's arm, turning her gently away from Heero.

"Are you going to stay here with Kitty?" Duo peered up into her face where Ember was wiping away tears, not noticing Heero's discomfort or Duo's smooth transition on his behalf.

Ember nodded. "Yes, I'll have someone else take care of the hotel for a few days. Are you doing alright?" She suddenly looked down at Duo, eyes full of concern and wary of him.

"I'm fine!" Duo assured her, calling up a smile to give her, rubbing his hands on her shoulders, as if helping to build up her strength. She nodded and let out a big sigh.

"You two should go home when you get the chance; Kitty won't wake up for a while yet. You should get some rest." Ember encouraged them.

"Is that a subtle way of telling me I look like shit?" Duo teased, and only Heero noticed the strain around his eyes.

"No, if you looked like shit I'd tell you." Ember gave him a smile, the most real one she had yet, a little of the tension leaving her face. "You just look dead tired."

Duo laughed and gave Ember the smallest of pushes towards the part in the curtains behind her, a kind of delicate hint and Heero saw it for what it was while Ember simply reacted to it. Most people didn't notice when you did something like this, but Duo more than anyone was successful when pulling it off.

"Go home and get some sleep when they release you." Ember told them, not noticing when Heero didn't look at her again.

"Call me when she wakes up!" Duo called before Ember disappeared back into the ER.

They waited there for a doctor to come around, check on Duo's IV and decided weather they were going to keep Duo overnight. Considering nothing important had been hit by the bullet the doctor gave them his ok as long as Heero and Duo promised that Duo was going to go to bed and rest and take some iron pills. Duo eagerly signed the release papers and Heero got them a ride home.

They didn't talk the whole ride back to the hotel and it was ok, the quiet wasn't strained or uncomfortable, it just was and that was ok. But Heero started to get out of the car at Ember's hotel and suddenly realized he didn't know where Duo lived, hadn't asked so he could drive him there, and Duo was already getting out of the car and probably preparing to walk.

"I'm sorry, if you'll tell me where to go, I didn't even think about it I just…"

Duo cut him off and ducked his head sheepishly. "No it's ok, we're there."

"Where?" Heero asked, confused as Duo came around the car as it pulled away and ran his hand through his bangs.

"Here. I live…here." Duo admitted, feeling not that it had been stupid to keep it from Heero for so long. Would it have been so bad if he'd just told him from the start?

"Oh." Heero didn't know what to say. All this time, he'd been wondering where Duo lived, what kind of place he would have for himself, been waiting at the garage whenever he needed to see Duo, all this time he'd been only floors away.

"Sorry." Duo said quietly to the air between them, "I just…I don't know, I just didn't want…fuck." Duo turned away and felt the strong urge to hit the car tighten his fists. Heero was going to leave, it shouldn't be bothering him, but it was.

He should be thinking of Kitty, of Lawrence, but instead all he could think about was Heero leaving, probably tonight!

"It's alright." Heero misread Duo's frustration and started them walking towards the elevator up from the underground parking. "Where's your room?" Heero asked as they waited for the elevator.

"Next to Ember and Kitty's in the service halls. It's part of the original hotel. They just built on it." Duo stepped into the elevator and that was when it got awkward.

The silence between them was heavy and full of something neither one could get a hold of. Heero wanted to ask Duo something, but couldn't see Duo responding well, not to mention that it was completely the wrong time. But it was Duo who finally spoke as the doors opened to the first floor and Heero was waiting in the elevator to take it up to his suite.

"Wanna come over?" His words were quick and fell all over themselves, he also turned a little red at the surprised look on Heero's face, but he couldn't be alone right now, and he really, really didn't want Heero to leave. At least not tonight, though he knew he was lying to himself when he thought that.

Heero was just as surprised as Duo when he nodded once and stepped off the elevator and it closed behind him, summoned to another floor. They stood there in silence for a moment, as if neither of the believed they were really there, really standing two feet apart, waiting for the other to move, waiting with shallow breath for the other to make the first move.

Heero took a breath to say something and Duo beat it to him, as if Heero's own willingness to bear this small moment had spurred him on to taking it for himself.

"It's just down here…" Duo turned and started walking, concentrating very hard on not tripping or falling or letting his shivering get out of control. He could feel Heero behind him, almost like the man radiated heat and presence just from his eyes on Duo's back or the steps that were just one beat off of his own.

Heero followed Duo through the back hallways of the hotel. More so than last time he noticed how empty they were. Even with all the people working in the hotel it was run so no one lingered where they shouldn't and always seemed to be doing something.

But then maybe he was just trying to focus on something else other than the fact that he was standing outside of Duo's door now, waiting fro him to unlock it.

Duo strove to hide the slight tremble as he opened the door, keys jingling slightly in his hand, and stepped into the dark room. The combination of stress, fatigue, and anxiety had him stretched out so thin that Duo wasn't sure this was even a good idea. But the thought of losing Heero again made him push forward despite all his hang ups.

The fact that Heero smelled so good, even after the day they'd had, didn't help. Duo instantly went to his little kitchen and grabbed a soda. He took a long swallow and relished at the thought that his veins would soon be streaming with caffeine. He used his next swallow to take one of the iron pills he'd been ordered to take. He looked over at Heero who was still standing just inside his door as uncomfortable as ever and raised the can, "Want one?"

"Water?" Heero ventured further into Duo's domain as the braided man got him a cold glass of water. He watched that long length of hair dance against Duo's back as he moved. Little hairs escaping form the intricate knots and dancing around the main body of hair. The way the light played upon it, turning it form just brown to something more that seemed to be spun of wood or spun sand. Surprisingly it was calming, just watching Duo move around, as if no time had passed away from each other, as if they days occurrence's had never happened.

Heero grunted in appreciation when Duo handed him the glass and took a few quick sips. It was cool going down, and until that moment Heero hadn't realized how sore his throat was, how much heat was burning right there. But he couldn't figure out where this sensation was coming from. So he just took larger swallows and attempted to try and cool it down.

Duo watched Heero nervously, now that he had him here, he didn't know what to do. He couldn't really ask Heero to stay the night, it seemed a weird thing to ask Heero to sleep on the couch, but he wasn't all that sure what Heero's response would be if he asked for what he really wanted…

However, Heero did seem to know what to do with the opportunity of quiet time they suddenly had an abundance of.

"I'm sorry." Duo looked up sharply, eyes surprised, curious and suspicious at the same time. Heero stood just outside his small kitchen, suspended between his living room carpet and his kitchen lamination.

"Sorry for what?" Duo asked, not sure wither he should admit that Heero really didn't need to be apologizing anymore.

"That I was willing to sacrifice Kitty for you." Well, there was that…but it was just as confusing as everything else!

"What do you mean "sacrifice Kitty"!?" Duo demanded, astounded at the fact that not only did Heero choose to do this now, but that he chose to word his apology that way. "What you mean is, you're sorry that you made me punch you." Duo tried to smile, tried to bring up a grin that showed it was all water under the bridge; that they didn't have to do this now. But he was too tired to be doing this and it was starting to really show.

"Duo…" Heero knew Duo was intently trying to misunderstand him, and he was grateful for it, but he needed to get this out now, before he left. It was possible he was only going to make this worse, but he couldn't leave without one last attempt. Even if he did know perfectly well that Duo had made his own life here with Kitty and Ember, even if he did know there was a good chance that Duo had long since lost those feelings Heero had tried to destroy in Duo and himself so long ago…

He simply could not lose him again, not like that, not like this, not if there was something he could do about it.

Duo stared back at him, waiting, tired, frail around the edges, but still standing there, violet meeting cobalt, still waiting for him to speak. There like he'd always been till Heero had shoved him away, he'd been there, his best friend, his first friend.

"Duo…I know…I…" All those years…years. Not weeks, not months, but years, he'd let them slip by, even as he'd practiced saying it over and over in his head; he'd never once pursued it. How could he have let years go by!? Not when he loved Duo this much!

"I'm sorry…" they were the only words that would come to him. Duo looked at him, confused, but also…also so surprised, so hopeful even while he was trying to hide it.

Heero put his glass down somewhere to the side, leaving it to either fall or not and took one step towards Duo that seemed to cross depths. They were so close now, a hairs breadth away form each other, a thought might have been enough to bring them together, but the heat radiating off their skin was all that filled the air still between them.

Heero spoke, almost afraid to, his voice coming out a whisper when he'd meant it to be strong and wavering under the weight of all he'd been suppressing for so long.

"Say no…" Duo paused, breath stopping in his chest, his heart pounding, fear tingeing the edges of his hope that shone in his eyes, "Say no and I'll understand, I'll leave and you can go back to…"

"Fuck you Yuy!" Duo cursed him and closed that last inch, throwing himself into Heero's arms without restraint, ready to do anything to erase that utter despair he'd finally noticed for the first time that hung in Heero's eyes, in his shoulders, in the way his hands fisted at his sides and in the way he kept trying to hold himself back.

Their lips met and Duo drank him in, Heero tasted as he'd always thought he would, for all that time he'd watched the pilot so closely, felt him however briefly in passing, smelled his scent lingering in a room. Duo found that Heero was not only everything he had imagined him to be, but more.

He was just as strong as he'd always been, but there was also something new, something gentle that cradled Duo's face in rough hands and caressed him with the curve of a hip. Duo relished in the feel of Heero's body on his, found himself shoved back onto the kitchen counter and pushed down, ravished, he hissed in pain from his shoulder and Heero started to pull away, guilt heavy on his face. Duo swallowed the pain and pulled Heero back, deepening the kiss even as Heero tried to be more careful of his shoulder. They adjusted and Heero's passion rose again.

Heero wanted to touch Duo, wanted to feel his skin, hot and stretched beneath him like a ready feast, but he was hesitant now about Duo's shoulder. He wanted to taste every inch of the braided pilot and he wasn't going to wait one more second. His hands roamed down from where he held Duo to him and found this lithe waist, wired with muscle and hidden beneath a shirt Heero cursed in his head. He found the edge of the scratchy hospital fabric and shoved it up as quickly as he could, without risk, surprising Duo.

Duo found his shirt gone in a moment of struggling and then Heero's hands were on him, searching, testing, and running down his chest and around to his back, pulling him up off the counter and into his arms. Duo let Heero lift him, wrapped his arms tightly around Heero's waist and pressed his groin tight against Heero's stomach, showing him just how happy he was to be there, how eager he was for more.

Heero moved them into Duo's bedroom, eased them down on the bed, burying Duo into the strewn covers and kissing him till he was sure they would both go blind. Duo's hands found Heero's shirt and tugged hard as he moaned into Heero's mouth till they broke away form each other long enough for the item in question to be removed.

Duo scooted further up on the bed, writhing beneath Heero's knees, pulling Heero after him. It was slightly awkward because of his shoulder, Heero followed, but only far enough so that Duo's exposed stomach was suddenly beneath him. He gently kissed Duo's abs, a quick flick of his tongue rewarding him with a sudden noise and quick movement from Duo.

Heero tried again, seeing what would bring moans from Duo, and even what brought a quick jerk and laugh. Heero tasted Duo's skin, bathing himself in the scent of skin, oil and vanilla. Sweat quickly joined the mix and kisses came back, deep and fulfilling.

Duo felt everything filling him quickly, as if he were a cup, but not deep enough. It was as if the whole day were becoming more and more real with each kiss, each touch. He was ready to overflow, could feel it coming and was sure it would spoil this. His pain faded in and out, almost disappearing completely. He didn't want this moment to end with Heero, not ever, and so he tried to hold back, tried to bottle it all up. But the kisses gave way to tears and Duo was suddenly clutching at Heero as if he were the last solid thing on Earth and in the colonies.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god…" Duo heard a voice saying over and over again, and when he heard it, he realized it was his voice saying it, muffled from where his mouth was buried against Heero's neck.

The pain in his shoulder rushed back at the loss of endorphins and it only added to the sudden outburst. He found himself in Heero's lap, held just as tightly as he was holding Heero. His sobs were broken and ragged but Heero was somehow holding him together while everything else shattered around him. His kisses were gentle and more into his hair and neck than anywhere near his lips.

"'m sorry…" Duo muttered, sure this was it, who wanted a weepy bed partner?

"It's alright, I thought this might happen." Heero started to unconsciously rock Duo ever so slightly, instinct making him protective as his eyes scanned the room even while he kissed Duo again.

Duo grunted half a question into Heero's neck, striving to pull back.

"I could tell, today, you were so empty at the hospital, so dark. It was like the real you was trapped behind that damned mask you always wear." Heero explained, feeling the slight fear he'd had for Duo rise up again. "It's alright, please, let it out."

Heero found he couldn't really explain how much this meant to him. Duo had used to come to him with his problems before anyone else, and even if he'd never held him like this before, it was like having a small piece of that back. Duo nodded into Heero's neck, content to remain there, breathing in nothing but Heero and collecting the pieces of himself back up where no one could see.

They sat there while the sun sank outside, throwing the apartment at the bottom of the hotel into dusk. Duo sat gathered up in Heero's arms, warm and safe and eventually the kisses became passionate again; fervent and hot. The skin they had pressed tight against each other wasn't enough.

They quickly helped each other out of the remaining cloths they had on and more touching and exploring followed, still wary of Duo's shoulder, but bolder. Now when they pressed up against each other it was so much more, it wsa what each man had been yearning for without even knowing it.

Duo loved the feel of Heero's hands on him, needed more, and knowing exactly what he wanted now helped him to find the courage to tell Heero that there was lube in the bedside table drawer as the last of his pain drifted off in the wake of a wave of pleasure.

The need and relief that broke on Heero's face at the words encouraged him more, enough so that he didn't balk when Heero's hands drifted down to his tight entrance and began to work him wide enough for what they both wanted. Duo shuddered as Heero's fingers left him long enough to guide himself, hard and ready, to Duo's entrance.

Duo forced himself to relax and fought the hiss that escaped his lips as Heero began to push into him. He looked up to find the most wonderful expression of lust, need, hunger and possessiveness, as well as protectiveness, on Heero's face, poised over him.

Duo wriggled and bowed beneath Heero, helping and hindering at the same time. Heero reigned in his iron clad control and stopped as Duo's ass met his hips, he was now fully sheathed inside of Duo. The feeling of complete belonging was so right, Duo felt full up to the back of his throat and Heero was sure he couldn't move for fear of finishing right then.

"I love you." Heero's voice filled the room and Duo felt tears prickle his eyes again, he'd dreamed of hearing those words. He'd imagined it and longed for it. It was surreal, finally hearing them off of Heero's lips, but it was also so right.

"I've always loved you!" Duo pulled Heero down and captured his lips and Heero started up and slow and gentle rhythm. Rolling his hips and Duo thrusting up to meet him, stroke for stroke.

It was just what they both needed, but over quickly. Their needs too great and one followed the other quickly while they shoved their bodies together, as if they might melt that last barrier of skin and fully become one. Heero shot into Duo, hot and grunting from the force it wrought on this body. Duo came between them a second later, the sensation too much for him to handle. They stayed pressed together, breathing hard and Duo began to feel a pleasant ache below his waist and a not so pleasant one in his shoulder. He really hopped he hadn't pulled his stitches, but suspected they were ok.

Heero pulled out gently, gathering Duo to him, Duo's arms snaking around him, holding him just as closely. They had the whole night, but for now, this was more than enough. Just to hold one another.

Heero sighed contentedly against Duo's ear and could barely believe the man in his arms. There was so much to regret, but there was also so much ahead of them that it was foolish to linger on that now. He knew this, but Duo's thoughts seemed to be in the same place.

"We're even now, right?" Duo broke the silence, wondering how long this moment would have lasted before one of them broke it anyway. "I mean, you decked me, I laid you out. Punch for punch, no more dwelling."

Heero pulled back just far enough to look down at Duo's face. "You can hit me again if it'll make you feel better."

"That's not what I meant. No more hitting." Duo pulled Heero back down and settled for as long as he could before he'd have to go and clean up.

"Ok." Heero agreed.

"Love you." Duo kissed Heero's shoulder, loving the freedom he had to say that just as much as he loved the man beside him.

"I love you." Heero squeezed Duo tightly, swearing to himself that he'd never let years go by again. He could never lose Duo, not ever again.

Duo awoke warm and comfy. He would have gone right back to sleep had he not tried to move. The moment he did Heero's arm tightened around his waist and pain shot through his shoulder, and that was when Duo remembered what had happened and that he wasn't alone in bed.

Duo looked around to find Heero waking, his eyes blinking slowly. Duo wondered if Heero was using a trick he often did, when you stalled for time by doing something mundane very slowly, like blinking. But then Heero smiled at him and pulled him closer against his body.

"Morning." Heero murmured and just laid back, his face pressed tightly against Duo's shoulder with his braid coming undone against his cheek. Heero reveled in the scent that hung in the air around them.

"What time is it?" Duo asked even as he allowed himself to lay back into Heero's arms.

"Don't know." Heero admitted, not really caring anyway. He ran his fingers gently along Duo's arms, marveling at the softness of his skin and the very presence of Duo lying against him. Then concern took over his face as he remembered Duo's shoulder. "How is it?" He asked, guilt coming into his eyes.

"A little sore, but I'm fine." Duo breathed in deeply and sighed. "I wonder how Kitty is…" Heero felt the tension suddenly fill Duo's shoulders.

"I'm sure she's fine." Heero reassured him, smiling to himself at the thought of Ember and Kitty arguing in the hospital much as Heero and Duo used to during the war when Duo had been determined to leave despite doctors orders.

"I think I'll go visit her today. Gotta check on my garage too…" Duo trialed off, knowing he was talking himself into getting out of bed despite the fact that he was very loathe to do so.

Heero moved behind him a small breeze of cold air danced across Duo's back. Duo looked around, propping himself up on his elbow to find Heero digging for something on the floor next to the bed.

He came back up with a cell phone and perched his chin on Duo's good shoulder as he brought it around so Duo could see the tiny screen.

"Eleven o' clock." Duo sighed. "Now I have to get up." He sighed dramatically and Heero snorted against his shoulder as he let Duo pull away from his and roll out of bed.

They took their turns in the bathroom and pulled on jeans. Duo had a new pair while Heero was stuck in the ones he'd worn yesterday. He looked down at them with distrust as he wished for his suitcase which was currently many stories above them.

Duo gave a little snicker. Heero flashed him a small glare and searched for the rest of his cloths around the disheveled room. Duo had redone his hair after Heero had redressed his shoulder and then opened the blinds a little so that the sun streamed in. The lines of light played against Duo's skin and hair as he moved around the room and Heero admired the view, smiling to himself.

"Are you going to file your report soon, the press is probably circling like vultures by now." Duo bent down to retrieve a shirt from the floor, his words calling Heero back from his musings.

"It's likely to be on the news by now. I'll call Wu Fei later and file a report then." Heero said casually, but then noticed that Duo had stood up abruptly with his shit but was just holding it, looking around for something.

Duo snatched up a remote form his bedside table and flipped on the small TV he kept in his bedroom, shirt in one hand remote in the other and changed the channel till he found a woman sitting behind a desk with a little picture of a bloody bible in the upper corner of the screen. The little words running across the bottom of the screen had words like 'Preventors' and 'ex-Gundam Pilots' in it and Duo felt sick to his stomach. He'd always hated being on the news, even after the war. He'd come too used to that being a bad thing. As being exposed. He focused in on the woman's voice as she spoke to the camera and to millions of people on the colonies and on earth.

"Our top story today, the murderer known as the Bible Beater was killed yesterday after kidnapping a young woman on Colony L3. Kitty Phillips is currently safe in the hospital after…" Duo shut off the TV vehemently.

"Of course it's on the news, why wouldn't it be!" Duo cursed the TV and turned back to Heero, about to ask him something that he quickly forgot with Heero's next words.

"Come back to Earth with me!" The words just came out of his mouth out of no where, no warning and now they were hanging in the air between them and the room suddenly went from comfy and new to stressed and thick.

Duo looked at him, confusion and disbelief playing across his face. Heero sat there waiting, watching Duo closely, and searching for something, anything that would clue him into what Duo was thinking. But when he was sure he was catching a glimpse of something, it quickly disappeared under a mask as Duo pulled his shirt over his head gingerly.

"You know what Heero, can I think about it? I have to go check on Kitty and the garage." Duo pulled some socks out of his dresser drawer and pulled them on still standing.

Heero felt something twist in his gut. He stood, looking around for his shirt merely for something to do. He was sure he'd lost it in the living room, but couldn't bring himself to leave the room. Instead he waited until Duo went in their first and followed him numbly, striving not to say anything and almost losing a couple of times.

"What's your room number?" Duo suddenly asked as he was lacing up his boots. Heero told him and found his shirt, pulling it quickly over his head. He didn't ever remember being this uncomfortable undressed in front of Duo before.

"Ok," Duo gave him a smile as he opened the door. "I'll see you when I get back, ok? Don't forget to lock the door." And then he was gone.

Heero cursed himself and felt a strong urge to hit something. He continued looking around for his cloths and tried to ignore the churning in his stomach. "Damn."

Duo closed the door behind him and quickly walked down the hallway for the main lobby. He had the horrible feeling that he was fleeing, running away like a coward. He'd been planning on having breakfast…or lunch, with Heero, had planned on inviting him to go to the hospital with him to visit Kitty. But the moment he'd uttered those words Duo couldn't seem to have gotten out of that room fast enough. Couldn't breathe, couldn't concentrate. It had felt like he'd been cut adrift, everything closing in around him. It was only a little better out here, everything was tilting away from him, all the voices around him were blurred and he couldn't seem to remember getting out the front doors.

Duo stopped just outside the hotel and leaned against the wall. He tilted his head back and turned his face up into the artificial sunlight, breathing slowly and closing his eyes. "Shit."

Duo worried all the way to the hospital. His mind was full to bursting with Heero's question, Kitty's injuries and the case closing being all over the news. He became more focused as he parked at the hospital and followed the directions he'd gotten in a call form Ember earlier that day. It was an effort, but he managed, having had a lot of practice in this department.

He kept picturing Kitty the last time he'd seen her, covered in all that blood. Her hands… Duo pushed away his over active imagination and pulled together a smile for Kitty as he entered her room.

"Hey!" Duo found them back against a window, the first bed empty. Ember was sitting next to he life partner in one of those chairs that always looked more comfortable than it actually was. But Duo had no doubt that he'd been camped out there all night.

"Hi!" Kitty was propped up on pillows; covers tucked up around her chest and her arms lying down at her side, splinted and wrapped up tight. It was as if someone had started her for mummification but only made it up to her elbows.

Duo flinched at the sight, but pashed on. He pulled the other spare chair away from the empty bed and sat down on Kitty's other side. The smell of the hospital, all the IV tubes and wires made him nervous but he tried not to see them.

"So, how're you doing?" Kitty asked, smiling big. "How's the shoulder, heard you got released yesterday, lucky SOB."

"I got released, you didn't, what does that tell you?" Duo chuckled, "What did the doctor say?"

Kitty's eyes wilted a little around the edges as Ember spoke up to answer his question.

"The doctor reattached all her fingers since it was a clean cut and they're hopeful that she'll get back some of her dexterity with physical therapy. We just have to watch her closely for infection." Ember said it all with optimism in her voice but Duo knew the reality and he could see it in Kitty's eyes. He knew of only a few women who were just as strong and just as determined as these two, and if anyone could overcome this kind of obstacle Kitty could.

But she wouldn't hope. She'd surpass her own limits, but she wouldn't set herself up for disappointment. Duo gave her a smile that let her know he knew the score too and Ember frowned at them both, but wisely let it go.

"So, did Heero leave?" Kitty asked, changing the subject non to delicately and making her lover gape at her.

"Kitty! You were supposed to be subtle!" Ember scolded.

"Awe, that's no fun. I want the dirt. I'm injured, I think I deserve to know." Kitty pouted. Ember gave half a laugh and they both looked at Duo who found that he couldn't hold the blush back.

"Oh my God! They had sex!" Kitty exclaimed, and Duo could feel her pointing at him even if she couldn't lift her arm to do it. The accusation in her voice was enough.

"Again, Subtle Kitty, tact! We can't just automatically assume that…" Duo watched as Ember looked up at him mid-gesture and her face changed. "Oh my God, she's right!" Duo balked and blushed deeper. "You have had sex!"

"How do you do that!?" Duo demanded, fighting to get his flaming face under control, wondering why he hadn't just burst into flame yet.

"Women's intuition." Ember said. Kitty nodded solemnly, but it was ruined while she was trying not to laugh. Duo rolled his eyes.

"So, what happened?" Kitty asked.

"Hey, I'm not giving you a play by play scenario!" Duo said indignantly.

"EW!" Ember and Kitty exclaimed together.

"No, no! Just give us the pillow talk, leave out all the rest, please!" Kitty laughed. "Does he love you or was this a fling and he'll be back in a couple of years for more?"

Duo snorted, "Well uh…truth is…he loves me." The elation still caught him off guard and the words were still strange on his tongue, but gods did it feel good to say!

"I knew it!" Ember practically shouted. "Oops, sorry." Ember giggled as a nurse passing by stumbled just outside their door. Kitty snickered and beamed at Duo. "What she means to say is, 'we' knew it."

Duo smiled at them, loving them ever more now than he ever had, which was what made this next part so difficult.

"He asked me to go back to Earth with him." Duo wrung his hands, fighting the urge to run them through his bangs.

"Alright!" Kitty cheered unabashedly, Ember's face lit up just as much, both of them waiting expectantly.

"I haven't given him an answer yet." Both women froze and stared at him, Ember in shock and Kitty in disgusted exasperation.

"Ember, smack him in the back of the head for me? I can't reach him." Kitty asked matter 'o factly.

Ember promptly walked around the hospital bed to where Duo was sitting and brought the back of her hand against the back of his head. Duo tried to duck seeing that she actually meant to do it, but she was quick and ruthless.

"OW! What was that for!?" Duo demanded rubbing the back of his head through his hair.

"Because you're an idiot! If a hot guy says he loves you and says he wants to whisk you away to live happily ever, you say _yes_!" Kitty strained the last word, her eyebrows almost lost under her bangs they were raised so high.

"What?" Duo couldn't believe what he was hearing, surely kitty of all people would understand why he couldn't just pack everything and leave his home on Heero's whim!

"Duo!" Kitty snapped, getting his attention back from his thought, "You're thinking too hard, I can hear you from here."

Duo sighed. It had been what he'd always wanted to hear, what he'd secretly been waiting for since he'd moved here. So why was it that now that Heero had finally said the right words that he was hesitation so?

"Duo." Ember interrupted, trying a different approach than her lover. "We want you to be happy."

"But I am happy." Duo argued, "Here with you two and ma garage!"

"Duo, we've known you a long time now, years. And in all that time I don't remember ever seeing you really truly happy. You've been happy, you're like family to us, don't get me wrong. But it was more like the kind of happy someone is while they're waiting for that something more."

Duo turned that thought over and over in his mind, testing it out. It was true. It was like he'd been content until Heero had showed up and then for the first time he saw what had been missing all this time.

"Come on Duo. It's not like if you leave we'll never see each other again. I know vacations are a foreign concept to you, but you can come and visit whenever you want!" Kitty gave him a big smile. A smile that plainly said that everything was going to be alright. "So be happy. You love him."

Duo smiled back at her, he couldn't help it. He gave a big sigh and just gave in. "You're right."

"Good." Kitty sat up a little straighter, triumphant even with her hands braced and her hair flat, out of it's usually ponytail. Had it been there, it would have bobbed behind her with authority as it usually did when she was right. "Now, about the garage."

Duo flinched but Kitty didn't pause, just plowed on. "You will of course make me the new manager and we'll hire two more mechanics and we'll find an investor so we can set one up on Earth. We'll start a chain! Work our way from here to Earth until we're everywhere! Just like that coffee place you hate so much!"

Duo's mouth fell open; she'd actually thought this through! Probably for a while now, maybe even ever since Heero had showed up at the garage that first day… Besides, it couldn't be this easy, it just couldn't. These sort of decisions took time, they took work. He couldn't just hand everything over to Kitty and desert her like this! But she was so sure, and Ember was looking just as expectant, she'd probably been in on it from the beginning too!

"Oh come on Duo, you had to have seen this coming." Kitty gave him a sad smile, "I'm not good for much else anymore. I'll never get full use back. Sad but true." Ember looked like she wanted to argue that, but kept silent. And Duo felt a sharp pain in his heart. Kitty lived to fix things. To take them apart and put them back together and see them work again. It was his fault that had been taken away from her.

"And don't you dare go and start blaming yourself for this!" Kitty suddenly barked as if she could read his mind. Duo ducked his head and offered her a small smile.

"That's better." Kitty lay back down. She suddenly looked much smaller and a lot more tired. Duo felt he pain again, but it was much less this time. He could give her the garage; she'd be around the cars, sharing her knowledge, probably take on an apprentice. She'd been fine working under him, happy to have a job she loved and they'd never really acted like boss and employee anyway. Duo had always known she could make it without him if she had to. This was just the next step, for both of them.

"Nap time." Ember sang, Kitty smiled at her sleepily.

"We'll discuss this more later." Kitty promised.

"Yes, the key work there being 'later'." Ember let Duo bend down and give Kitty a half hug then shooed him out. But not before giving him a hug of her own and a whispered "Thank you!"

"No, thank you!" Duo squeezed her back and then turned to go home.

Heero waited up in his room. He ran his hand though his hair again while he ran through a check list in his mind. Everything he'd brought was packed and ready to go. Wu Fei was handling the closing of the case and Duo would be back from visiting Kitty in the hospital soon.

Heero grew more anxious with each minute. Why had he asked Duo that so suddenly? He'd been too rash, too overwhelmed and too eager. You couldn't just asked someone to up and leave their whole life behind just because you asked! Duo had a business here; he had good friends, family. A home.

Of course he wouldn't say yes. Heero hadn't even been planning on asking the moment had just kind of taken over. How could he have been so stupid!? It was a foolish thing to expect everything to fall into place just because Duo had forgiven him. Heero had thought that maybe they could start dating, that eventually he'd work up to the words that had fallen out of his mouth this morning. But the looming suggestion of a long distance relationship had just been too much to bear.

Heero made his decision, he'd give Duo an easy out when he got back, hopefully he hadn't scared Duo off, and they'd start slow. Like he'd meant to. With that decided time seemed to flow like normal again and Heero didn't have long to wait when Duo came back and knocked on his door.

Heero opened the door and was rewarded instantly with a smiling Duo in blue jeans and an untucked button down black shirt. Heero back up and let Duo enter.

"Hey. Kitty's doing great. Her hands will never be the same but I don't think that'll stop her." Duo looked around casually. Heero had no doubt he'd been up here before but the tension in Duo's shoulders didn't go unnoticed when he saw Heero was already packed.

"Duo listen," Heero turned Duo around to look at him, "I wanted to apologize for this morning." He saw the instant panic on Duo's face and quickly amended himself. "I do love you. So Damn Much! It was selfish of me to demand so much from you so quickly." Heero kept talking around the growing lump in his throat. "I'll understand if you…"

"Yes." Duo suddenly interrupted him, cutting of whatever Heero had been about to be so understanding about.

"What?" Heero lost his train of thought, and though his heart still ached to bursting, now he added confusion to the mix and could only gather together enough brain cells to stare back at Duo.

"My answer is yes." Duo's smile was brilliant and his eyes glittered with amusement. "I talked it over with Kitty and she's agreed to take over the garage so that I can…"

This time Heero interrupted, reaching out to snag Duo by the back of the neck and pull him close to capture his lips in a hungry kiss. All doubt and worry washed away from him and what was left filled him to the brim and then overflowed as he kissed Duo. He broke away with difficulty, staring back at Duo, holding his face in his hands.

"Really?!" He demanded.

"Yes really!" Duo laughed, tears dancing in his eyes as he watched a smile bloom on Heero's face, a real true smile. This was what Kitty and Ember had been talking about, this was real happiness; this was true love.

Heero kissed him again, hard and quick. "I love you!"

"I love you too." Duo pulled Heero in for a hug and finally held the man he loved with the promise of forever.

Two years later…

Duo sorted through the mail as he pulled off his coat, he had to get ready for dinner with the other pilots. Heero was already upstairs; Duo could hear him walking around. Duo smiled to himself, the garage was doing great. Heero had been promoted and taken Linton with him, a woman Duo had become instant friends with. She was getting married in the spring.

Duo found a letter from the Hotel Lin on L3 in the pile on the kitchen counter and opened it. He always found it amusing that Kitty loved to write letters so much instead of calling. He indulged her and always wrote back, even if they usually ended up calling each other anyway.

Heero came down the stairs, dressed and wondering where Duo was. He'd heard his partner come in, but he hadn't come up to change yet. Heero found him in the kitchen, coat at his feet, letter in one hand and his other hand covering his mouth and tears rolled down his cheeks.

"Duo?" Heero started to take faster steps towards his lover, worry blossoming in his chest. Duo looked, surprised and then he ran to Heero, throwing himself into the others mans arms. But Heero got a quick look at Duo's face before it had been buried against his neck.

"MM DONNA EBE AMM HNNHLL!" Duo cried into Heero's neck, his words becoming so distorted that Heero hadn't caught any of it.

Heero pulled at Duo, bringing him out at arms length even as Duo laughed and cried at the same time, rubbing at his eyes.

"What?" Heero asked, perplexed.

"I'm Gonna Be An Uncle!" Duo cried and held the letter up for reference. "Kitty's pregnant!" Duo threw his arms around Heero again and laughed as Heero joined him, lifting him up off the ground and spinning.

They were late to dinner, but sharing the news with the other pilots earned them instant forgiveness. Kitty and Ember had been down to visit several times and gotten along well with everyone. Kitty arguing with Duo and Trowa over engines and cars while Ember talked quietly about business with Quatre and Wu Fei with Heero. Then they'd all switch around till the two women were good friends with them all.

"That baby is going to be spoiled rotten." Quatre mused over dinner.

"Especially with so many uncles." Trowa chuckled softly.

"Do you suppose it will be a boy or a girl?" Wu Fei wondered, taking a dessert menu form their waitress and passing it along to the others, ordering some tea for himself.

Duo leaned in close to Heero as he opened the menu. "What do you think…?"

"Oh what?" Heero asked, leaning against Duo and looking at him instead of the pie list.

"…Kids…" Duo smiled shyly.

Heero smiled back, laughter dancing in his eyes. "I think we should try babysitting first."

Duo laughed and ordered his dessert, clutching Heero's hand under the table while the conversation moved on to stuffed animals and bicycles.

They decided to all visit L3 this winter, Duo had to visit L1 anyway to check and see how his garage there was doing. It was just a short trip from there they'd been planning on making anyway.

"Love you." Heero whispered to Duo.

"I know." Duo laughed, "I love you too!"

End


End file.
